Vwaire Obukohwo dreams of rowing for Team GB at the LA 2028 Olympics, although her more immediate concern is how she will afford her weekly food shop.
Like many elite athletes, the 23-year-old from south-west London receives some central funding to pursue the ambition of representing her country on the biggest stage.
But funding has been outstripped by inflation and, amid a cost of living crisis, Olympic hopefuls like Obukohwo are struggling to make ends meet.
“Every year I dread my MOT and car insurance, because I don’t have much spare income left. I just have to hope and pray on the day I have enough,” she tells City AM.
“I know that’s true for a lot of athletes; I don’t think that I’m alone in this situation. It’s disappointing, because it is more than a 9-5 job.
“I’m training six days a week, doing three sessions a day, out at 7am and I don’t get back home until 5pm. I’m pushing myself to my limit, to literally define what’s humanly possible. You’d hope that I’d be able to afford a grocery shop.”
Funding levels have been thrust into the spotlight in recent months, with a survey of British athletes revealing a majority feared they would have to quit without an increase.
Some, like GB canoeist Kurts Adams Rozentals, have turned to selling racy content on sites such as OnlyFans in order to supplement their income.
Obukohwo started out on just £6,000 a year and, although that has now risen to £19,800 as she has climbed the ranks, she has still had to juggle multiple part-time jobs to afford to train.
It’s why she became the first to join a new platform, Fayder, that allows athletes to offer greater access to fans who are willing to crowdfund their sporting aspirations.
How Ryder Cup inspired Fayder’s founder
Founder Ben Toland had the brainwave while watching the last Ryder Cup, where celebrities like Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones got to walk the course behind Team Europe’s players.
“It made me think, what if that kind of access wasn’t just for a small portion of high net worth individuals but something any fan could experience?” he says.
“At the same time, through golf I met talented tour pros struggling to fund their careers. That’s when it clicked: what if solving their funding gap could also solve my problem as a fan?”
Toland now has a handful of athletes on Fayder, including Obukohwo’s fellow rower Jade Lindo, and is in talks with GB competitors from track and field and snowsports.
The platform itself is a work in progress but the idea is that athletes offer multiple tiers of access, ranging from direct messaging to in-person coaching sessions, at ascending price points.
For Obukohwo, Fayder is also a chance to engage with a supportive community in an environment stripped of the toxicity of some social media platforms.
“Like most Gen Z, I love social media. Having that side of the platform definitely will help to bring me joy,” she says.
“In a sport like rowing, being able to have people join for the ride isn’t something that’s easy to come by. This can definitely aid in boosting the amount of eyes on me and the sport.”
A way to fund athletes outside of OnlyFans
Polling for City AM this year showed the public support more funding for GB athletes. The problem is that someone has to pay for it. Toland believes he has a solution.
“It’s about turning passive spectators into active stakeholders, fans who feel part of the journey, not just observers of it,” he says.
“We believe the taxpayer shouldn’t solely carry the torch for this. We think they should get something for their money, and we’re offering a way for fans to get value.
“Additionally we’re seeing an alarming trend where some athletes feel forced to turn to platforms that promote sexualised content to fund their careers.
“We believe that real sports fans would rather support athletes for their talent, hard work, and ambition – not for explicit content.”
Toland has bootstrapped the startup until now but is planning a funding round later this year that would allow him to build out Fayder and attract more athletes.
Obukohwo, meanwhile, believes that building a support network on the platform will alleviate her financial pressure and make her Olympic dreams more achievable.
“It can put quite a strain and quite a stress on overall performance, thinking ‘oh shoot, I don’t have the money to cover this month’,” she says.
“It’s such a very heavy weight to bear. It’s part of the job, but financial help from Fayder means I think I’ll genuinely be able to live a happier life.
“A happy athlete is a fast athlete, an athlete with more pep to their step. It definitely is something that would help me get to LA 2028, without a doubt.”