Olympic athletes are already promoting their customized gear on eBay – NBC Los Angeles
Because the 2026 Winter Olympic Video games wind down, athletes are packing up their luggage with unique gear that followers obsessed over in viral TikTok haul movies. Sponsors like Nike, Ralph Lauren and Skims have showered the highest athletes within the nation with clothes, sneakers, equipment and extra. However some Olympians are selecting to promote a few of their swag — igniting bidding wars on eBay and stirring debate over whether or not cashing in on Olympic-issued gear crosses an moral line.
All 3,800 athletes competing in Milan Cortina got a restricted version Galaxy Z Flip 7 from Samsung, an official accomplice of the Olympic and Paralympic video games. However inside days of receiving their telephones, some Crew USA athletes seem to have listed them on public sale website Ebay, promoting theirs for effectively over $1,000. A minimum of one itemizing had a “Purchase It Now” value of $2,500, although the vendor accepted a greatest supply of an undisclosed lesser quantity.
Crew USA’s Hahna Norman, who competed within the girls’s snowboard massive air and slopestyle, revealed in a TikTok that she was pondering of promoting a few of her Olympic gear. After receiving a slew of feedback, she posted a follow-up Q&A explaining her reasoning.
“I believe that there is this notion that while you make it to the Olympics, you are an elite athlete and you make a ton of cash,” she mentioned, noting that for many, that’s not in any respect the case.
Norman clarified that whereas snowboarding on the Olympics and representing Crew USA is an unimaginable honor and alternative, many Olympians aren’t financially set.
Outdoors of some high-profile stars with main sponsorship offers, most athletes haven’t got a pile of cash to fall again on. And due to the Worldwide Olympic Committee’s Rule 40, influencer athletes are additionally constrained in posting sponsored content material that point out the Olympics, making their most beneficial posting window probably the most restrictive.
So, Norman mentioned, promoting some additional gear that may in any other case go unused is an effective way to earn extra revenue from the Olympic Video games.
And she or he’s removed from the one athlete doing this.
On Ebay, an athlete situated in Lake Placid, New York, is promoting their Ralph Lauren Crew USA Anorak for $2,500, and their Closing Ceremony sweater ($1,200) jacket ($3,000) and boots ($1,000). Consumers are warned that objects might be shipped “no sooner than February 20 when I return from Milan.” It isn’t clear who the athlete is.
Different scorching commodities embody Crew USA’s iconic eagle skirt, the official Olympic plush mascot and pins.
Main as much as the Olympics, Canadian speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen posted on Fb, promoting gear from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. “Help my journey to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics by shopping for this Lululemon equipment from the earlier Winter Olympics,” the advert learn.
Some critics declare it is not moral for athletes to promote gear that was gifted to them, however for many of those elite rivals it is not about cashing in and extra about sustaining a dream.
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