There’s a detailed article in the Guardian on Olympic Pommel Silver medalist Louis Smith from England.
One section caught my eye:
… Smith is as revealing when he details the lack of financial support offered to elite gymnasts in this country. “All the top gymnasts here work really hard and deserve something decent. But they get peanuts. There’s a talented guy on our senior squad called Luke Folwell and he’s on £200 a month. He trains twice a day, Monday to Saturday, but that’s all he gets. At the age of 21 it’s almost impossible to live off that.”
The king of the pommel horse does not blink when asked to discuss the state of his own meagre finances. “A year ago I was also on £200 a month. I only started getting a little more money this January. I now get £1,400 a month from UK Sport. It’s tough when you see what other sportsmen earn – and don’t talk to me about footballers. I get so frustrated when I hear that some of them are on £90,000 a week and they’re rolling around on the pitch after a tap on the leg.” …
Photograph: Tom Jenkins
Normally, when your nation is scheduled to next host the Olympics, financial support comes flooding. Especially for an Olympic medalist. (Yes, I know that Louis’ medal was controversial.)
Louis trains at a regular club, not the National Training Centre (Lilleshall):
… “We’ve got a brilliant coach in Paul (Hall) but at Huntingdon we’ll be trying to do double somersaults and a tiny kid will suddenly run into our path and we have to shout ‘Stop!’ in case you kill them. The gym is a quarter the size of Lilleshall and the runway is 18 rather than 25 metres long. And we still made two Olympic finals.” …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 