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There isn’t any money up for grabs at the Olympics, and many of the athletes who earn the right to represent their country have to foot a hefty bill if they want to compete. That includes Lisa Buckwitz, a bobsledder from Germany who will be looking to add a second gold medal to her collection in Italy after turning to OnlyFans to fund the journey.
People who decide to devote their life to becoming an Olympic athlete typically aren’t in it for the dough, as there isn’t any prize money up for grabs at those international competitions. You could theoretically sell your medal if you earn a spot on the podium, and while some standouts are able to leverage their success into high-profile sponsorship deals and jobs in broadcasting, it would be a stretch to call that path a particularly lucrative one.
Every athlete who is representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina will be receiving a $200,000 gift from Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, and he cited the “financial insecurity” many of them end up facing as a motivating factor for his decision to contribute.
There are some countries that offer government-funded stipends to competitors so they can focus on the task at hand. With that said, many (if not most) of the people who make the trek to the Olympics work normal jobs and have to find sponsors to help them cover the cost of training, equipment, travel, and other expenses that can be both a burden and a barrier to entry in the first place.
However, one member of Germany’s bobsled team decided to turn to a slightly less conventional source of funding ahead of her third trip to The Games.
German bobsledder Lisa Buckwitz credited OnlyFans with helping her raise money to pay for her journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics
Milan Cortina will mark the first time Liza Buckwitz will be a member of Germany’s two-woman bobsled (the discipline officially referred to as “bobsleigh) team at the Winter Olympics.
She won a gold medal in PyeongChang in 2018 alongside Mariama Jamanka, and while the latter earned a silver after teaming up with Alexandra Burghardt in Beijing in 2022, Buckwitz and Kim Kalicki missed the podium with their fourth-place showing.
In 2026, she’ll be joining forces with Neele Schuten as one of the three German teams that will be competing in that event, and during a recent interview with Bild, she says her return was made possible with the help of the OnlyFans account that turned out to be a solid source of income.
Burkitz told the outlet her training sets her back €50,000 (around $60,000) per season, and last year, she decided to supplement the income she earns as a soldier in the Bundeswehr (Germany’s federal military) by joining the platform that’s known for the risque content its creators offer.
She stressed “I will definitely not show myself naked” but was more than happy to take advantage of the opportunity to partner with OnlyFans and launch the account where she charges her subscribers $24.99 a month. She didn’t say how much she’s made, but noted “it allows me to finance my team” while describing it as “the best thing that could have happened to me.”