Only three years after switching from competitive swimming to rowing, Oliver Zeidler became world champion in 2019. “I’m proud of that, because nobody had done it before. But it wasn’t predictable,” says the 24-year-old from the Erding district in Upper Bavaria. He comes from a true rowing dynasty: the grandfather was an Olympic champion, the father fourth in the World Cup, the uncle two-time world champion and the aunt Olympic champion.
With these genes, it is no longer so surprising that Zeidler became the shooting star of the rowing scene in a very short time: In his first World Cup season in 2017, he won the overall World Cup, won a gold medal on the rowing ergometer at the World Games that same year and took home since then one world championship title, two European championship titles and another overall world cup victory in single rowing. Nevertheless, he says: “Rowing is my hobby.” What sounds like stooping is absolutely serious. “I compete internationally against full professionals and am the only amateur athlete who rows around there.” Although the two-meter-tall man is so successful, he cannot live from his sport.
He feels like a crowd of hopeful young athletes and medal winners, whether they are German junior champions or Olympic champions. “In the public perception, top athletes are also top earners,” says Klaus Sarsky from the Bavarian Olympic Training Center. That may be true in football, but as far as most other sports are concerned, the impression is deceptive.
According to a study by Deutsche Sporthilfe from 2018, the more than 1000 top athletes surveyed and sponsored by the foundation have an average monthly income of 1560 euros – and that with a 56-hour week, of which they spend 32 hours for sport and 24 hours for Spending work, work, training and learning. 25 percent of the income comes from private sources – this includes financial injections from parents as well as personal income from work.
Many athletes earn less than the legal minimum wage
If only the sports-related income and expenses are related to the weekly hours spent on sports, the imputed hourly wage of the athletes is just over five euros. If the total income is taken as a basis, it is 7.41 euros – still well below the statutory minimum wage of 9.50 euros. So not much has changed since 2010: At that time, the Federal Institute for Sports Science calculated that after deducting taxes and spending on their sport, athletes would only have 626 euros to live on.
“In alpine skiing, for example, not everyone is a Maria Riesch or a Felix Neureuther who can market themselves and have sponsorship income. Only a few athletes have taken care of things at the age of 30 or have such a market value that they can continue to earn their income with it,” says Klaus Sarsky. Anyone who retires from sport at the age of 30 still has over 30 years of professional life ahead of them. “Then the question is asked, what did you learn, what did you study, what qualifications do you have – it doesn’t really matter whether you’ve ever won a bronze medal in athletics.”
If you don’t want to study with freshly graduated high school graduates, hit the vocational school bench with 16-year-olds or end up in the jungle camp like so many footballers who can no longer finance the high standard of living after the end of their career, you should, if possible, take care of your professional future during your sports career.
This is where Klaus Sarsky, who as a career advisor has been making young athletes fit for a “dual career” of sport and work, as promoted by Deutscher Sporthilfe or the German Olympic Sports Confederation, helps for more than 30 years. There are several possibilities for that.
The police, the armed forces and customs promote athletic careers
The best known are probably the approximately 1200 sports funding agencies at authorities such as the police, the armed forces or customs. They allow athletes to concentrate fully on the sport. “Winter sports enthusiasts in particular often have a job with an authority such as the customs ski team, because their absences can hardly be reconciled with studying or training: They spend the entire winter on the road to competitions,” says Sarsky.
In the Bundeswehr, the athletes only have to complete a few career courses, otherwise they are completely exempted for training and competitions and are well paid. Part-time studies are now also possible. However, the contract with the athletes is only extended for one year at a time: Those who no longer perform well are thrown out and are often left empty-handed.
Oliver Zeidler studied tax law and works for the consulting firm Deloitte, which released him to prepare for the Olympics.
(Photo: private)
In the state or federal police, on the other hand, the athletes complete proper training and then become civil servants in the middle or senior service. In Brandenburg, athletes can get a promotion place at the state fire brigade, in Hesse a sports promotion group started in the general administration in 2020, whose members can complete a dual course of study in addition to competitive sports and later work in the public service. Prerequisites for the official positions are usually entrance exams and membership of a federal cadre.
Oliver Zeidler had also considered applying for a sports funding agency, but the prospects didn’t appeal to him: “I wanted to do something that I enjoy and what I like to do after the sport. The police or the armed forces were not an option.” After graduating from high school, he decided to train as a tax clerk at the consulting firm Deloitte, added a dual degree in tax law and is now about to complete his master’s degree – but he will save that for after the Olympics, where he is considered a hot gold medal contender .
Many universities have a quota for top athletes
He has just been released from his employer to prepare for the Olympics. Otherwise, the day starts with him at half past six with two hours of training. He’s in the office from 9 a.m., where he advises companies and wealthy private individuals on tax issues in Deloitte’s SME department, before the second training session starts at 5 p.m. In the evenings and at night you study or write your master’s thesis.
What sounds like a superhuman workload, Zeidler takes calmly: He already knows the double or triple load from his school days, at that time he drove to the gym in Erding before school and then went to Munich for swimming training. “To get training, work, study and sport at the same time was of course a pretty tough plan, but in the end everything worked out. I didn’t waste any time,” says Zeidler.
And he is still a long way from the end of his sporting and professional career: After completing his master’s degree, his goals are tax advisor exams and an MBA – ideally in Oxford or Cambridge, where he would then like to row in the legendary regatta. “If I have been doing world-class sports in sport, I want to achieve something similar in my job,” he says.
Not every top athlete wants to pursue such a picture-book career. But according to career advisor Sarsky, athletes’ inclination to study has risen massively in the last 20 years. This coincides with the development of society as a whole. In addition, there is a high proportion of high school students among top athletes. In order to be able to combine sport and studies better, at the 170 or so “partner universities of top-class sport” they get relief such as an extension of the study period or a pre-election right in order to actually be able to attend the required courses. In ten federal states there is even a quota for top athletes in courses with restricted admission.
On time at the seat – despite a bloody nose
As far as vocational training is concerned, the career advisors at the Olympic training centers work together with companies and businesses. “It tends to be easier with larger companies than with a small craft business that only has two apprentices and one of them is absent half the time due to training or competitions, to put it exaggeratedly,” says Sarsky. Companies that get involved with athletes benefit from the athletes’ soft skills, which are also valuable in professional life: motivation, performance orientation, resilience, assertiveness and team spirit.
“Athletes can deal with defeats and setbacks like injuries. If something doesn’t work out right away, they don’t push the great frustration, but bite through and try to move forward anyway.” This is the experience of many training managers who were initially rather skeptical of their competitive athlete trainees, says Sarsky. “After half a year, even the most critical training manager was enthusiastic about the athlete apprentices because they are tough and the other apprentices get carried away.”
This also illustrates another story: A trampoline jumper from the Bavarian Olympic base was injured in a competition at the weekend, but on Monday he was at his training place punctually at eight o’clock – albeit with a bloody nose. “The instructor said to him that other apprentices had been sick for four days because of something like that,” says Sarsky. “Athletes are a special hit.” And often able to do more than those around them think they can.
Oliver Zeidler, for example, ignored the suggestions of his career advisor at the time and preferred to pursue his own ideas, because: “I am not told that something is not possible if I know that I can do it.”
Dual sports career
To pursue an apprenticeship, a course of study or a job in addition to top-class sport is not that easy: Normally, they mean a time commitment of 35 to 40 hours a week. Competitive athletes should also train 15 to 20 hours a week – ideally twice a day. Competitions and training camps consume just as much time – in addition to vacation, 20 to 30 working days of leave are usually required. Anyone interested in a dual career can find success stories and information on the various options for combining sport and studies or training at www.duale-karriere.de. If you are a member of a national team, you can get advice from career advisors at the Olympic training centers – preferably a year before graduation so as not to miss any application deadlines.