I think every athlete wants to get sponsored. If you do really well in your sport, then I think sponsorship can help you get rewarded in that sense: doing what you can for your sponsor. It's just another achievement in life.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
People actually get sponsors based on the merits of the Cup, not on the merits of the sailors.
The Olympics are only once every four years, so you have to take advantage of all your opportunities, both to be an inspiration to people and help support your sponsors who help you.
With the responsibility of being a professional athlete, I believe that it is on us to go out there and help people.
Becoming an Olympian is the ultimate reward for any athlete.
I love my sponsors. They make things so much fun for me. We do really fun and exciting things, so I always have a blast. It doesn't ever seem like work.
There are two really good feelings. The first is when you land sponsorships that allow you to be competitive. Then to win a race is the icing on the cake that you've made with the sponsorship.
If you offer athletes stipends, then you're into pay-for-play, and that's the ballgame. People should realize that, and they should realize that amateurism never has been a sustainable model for a sports-entertainment industry. It wasn't in tennis. It wasn't in the Olympics. And it's not in big-time college sports.
I think being an athlete prepares you for more things than people give us credit for.
Sponsorship involves putting your own political capital at risk, so they are going to help that person to succeed. Women get promoted; they don't get sponsored. Women know they are on their own if they get that promotion.
If you have more money than you need, you have to give it away. It's a duty. I get to choose whom to sponsor, and I like to give to the areas that I know something about.