Do Olympic athletes in other countries something else for living?

“South Korean athletes who only shoot arrows for a living cannot be compared to European athletes who do it as a hobby.”

Someone left a comment on an article that the South Korean archery team swept all five gold medals at the Paris Olympics. Is it true? A total of 128 athletes competed in archery at this year’s Olympics, 126 of which wrote down their occupation in the official profile.

All 126 of them mentioned being an athlete as their primary profession, and 66 of them do not have another occupation. The second-most mentioned occupation was a student (32 people), followed by a soldier (17 people). Sixteen of the soldiers introduced themselves as soldier athletes.

Many countries, including France, the host of this year’s Olympics, have a policy to employ athletes representing their country as soldiers with the aim of providing economic support to less popular sports. These are the ones who are referred to as ‘soldier athletes.’ Some countries recruit promising athletes as police officers. Three of the archers who competed at the Paris Olympics are police officers.

The situation of other sports is also similar. Over two-thirds (6,381 people) of 9,322 athletes who revealed what they do for a living listed no occupation other than an athlete, followed by 1,264 students, 403 soldiers, 331 coaches, 198 trainers, and 153 police officers. Not all people who mentioned their occupation as a soldier or police officer are professional athletes who receive financial support from their government. However, the survey results confirm‎ that it is not easy to compete at the Olympic level unless being an athlete is one's primary occupation.

Of course, some Olympians indeed compete as a ‘side gig.’ For example, Elena Galiabovitch, an Australian shooter, introduced her profession as a doctor without mentioning an athlete. She is the only case among 20 doctors who competed in the Paris Olympics and didn’t mention an athlete as their other occupation. An Argentinian shooter, Federico Gil, is another example who listed his occupation as a lawyer without mentioning an athlete. Shooting has the highest number of athletes (29 people) who didn’t mention an athlete or a student as their job.