The U.S. Olympic Committee's $1 million support of USA Softball this year helped the players travel across America and prepare for the Olympic tournament, while earning money.
"It's great," Lowe said. "If we don't have to have jobs, we can focus on what we're supposed to be doing."
There are no universal answers regarding whether the 597 U.S. Olympic athletes in Beijing have regular jobs or how they make money. Kobe Bryant earns $20 million playing in the NBA, while some athletes take advantage of a USOC sponsorship arrangement by working half time for full-time pay at The Home Depot, where a starting salary is $24,000.
Others, including wrestling champion Henry Cejudo, receive an annual stipend averaging about $12,000 and have complete living, training and insurance expenses covered, while they stay year-round at the USOC complex in Colorado Springs, Colo. Cejudo, 21, joined the national team's program while in high school and chose to remain in Colorado and focus on wrestling, a decision that was further justified by his gold medal this week.
"Henry's been groomed for this ever since he got on the Olympic Training Center campus," said his coach, Kevin Jackson.
Athletes in wrestling, women's volleyball, weightlifting, judo and boxing are among those living in Colorado Springs. Including athletes at two other centers, residents-in-training account for nearly one-third of the U.S. contestants in Beijing.
Greco-Roman wrestler T.C. Dantzler lives and trains in Colorado Springs, his company headquarters. Dantzler, 37, founded a firm specializing in personnel background checks, with about two dozen employees and 75 clients, including a few sports' national governing bodies.
For most athletes, the need to work outside their sport is usually based on the ability to secure endorsements or compete professionally. BMX bicycle racer Kyle Bennett hopes his sport's first-time appearance in the Games will help him attract more sponsors.
"They're actually bringing money into it, so that's nice," Bennett said. "That's what's good about being in the Olympics. Now, we're getting a lot more of that stuff."
Swimming star Michael Phelps already was earning a reported $5 million annually, and he will cash in even more after winning eight gold medals. In his latest promotion, he will appear on packages of Frosted Flakes.
It's different for fencers. Keeth Smart and his sister Erinn, each a silver medalist in Beijing, work in New York as financial analysts.
For athletes who require more training time, The Home Depot's Olympic Jobs Opportunities Program is popular - especially in Utah. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, the U.S. team included 12 members who worked at Utah locations, including bobsled medalist Shauna Rohbock.
Coaching is a natural career path for many Olympians, including several softball players. Cat Osterman, a pitcher, balanced her work as an assistant at DePaul University in Chicago this past spring with the U.S. team's 46-city tour that spread from February to July. After the Olympics, "It will be great to be coaching full time and actually be around to contribute," Osterman said.
The softball players liked getting paid to play, though. Their income from the tour was somewhere between the $5,000 top salary some of them have earned by spending summers in National Pro Fastpitch and the $3 million average pay for baseball players. And each can earn $25,000 today by beating Japan for the Olympic championship, as part of the USOC's Operation Gold.
"The fact they can do that and make us full-time athletes is great," Lowe said. "You're not going to see Major League Baseball salaries, but it's definitely enough to provide for you."
kkragthorpe@sltrib.com
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* MICHAEL C. LEWIS contributed to this story.
MICHAEL PHELPS
8 GOLD MEDALS x $25,000 = $200,000*
Plus his potential endorsement earnings will be multimillions more
NASTIA LIUKIN
1 GOLD x $25,000 +
3 SILVER x $15,000 +
1 BRONZE x $10,000 =
$80,000
SHAWN JOHNSON
1 GOLD X $25,000 +
3 SILVER x $15,000 =
$70,000
MARIEL ZAGUNIS
1 GOLD x $25,000 +
1 BRONZE x $10,000 =
$35,000
* Medal awards paid by U.S. Olympic Committee
