A sprinter dubbed the world’s sexiest runner has fired the starting gun on a row over athletes’ pay after complaining that she earns hardly nothing from sport.
German runner Alica Schmidt moaned in a post that elite athletes who make the national squad are rewarded with just EUR 700 (GBP 611).
Now she’s been shamed by one of the sports legends, decathlete Christian Schenk, 58, who won a gold medal for East Germany in the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Schenk was hitting back at 24-year-old Schmidt’s TikTok video complaining that running for her country just doesn’t pay.
Shocked Schenk from Rostock, said in a Facebook post on 28th October: “This post from the influencer and ‘top athlete’ left me horrified.”
He added: “Athletics is a serious, diligent, respectable individual sport with team moments, which received the greatest recognition from the entire population years ago.
“I also think that it will always remain a core Olympic sport worldwide.
“But this disrespectful post doesn’t bode well for me.
“If money is the motivation in athletics, we will achieve even less success. And we haven’t been blessed with these in Germany for years.”
Schmidt raised eyebrows in the sport when she complained in her social media post that athletes aren’t paid enough.
She said: “In principle, I have to say that it is not easy for most German track and field athletes to make a living from sport.
“In Germany, if we’re in the squad, meaning in the national team, we get EUR 700 [GBP 610] from Sporthilfe [German Sports Aid Foundation].”
Alica who runs for German sports club SC Charlottenburg in Berlin, explained that the foundation’s support is simply not enough for a living in inflation-stricken Germany.
The media and communications management student saidmshe also receives “a small payment” from her club each month but added: “That’s usually not enough for a living.”
She added: “Most of us study part-time in order to build up a second source of income, or even have mini-jobs that we do on the side.
“I am grateful that I earn my money with social media and can save myself another part-time job.”
Schmidt’s own side hustle is a huge social media career which is far more successful then her career on the track.
Despite 4.7 million Instagram followers and two million TikTok fans she has never won a medal at a major tournament.
Triple German Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Gross, 59, also weighed into the row with a dig at Schmidt.
Gross won three Olympic gold medals, two in 1984 and one in 1988 in the freestyle and butterfly events.
He also won two World Championship titles in 1982, two in 1986, and one in 1991.
Gross said: “The last sentence says it all… Fortunately in sports, money and looks don’t count.
“Instead, time and medals do. I’m happy to be ‘Old School’.”
