Quote Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe View Post
You do realize that most Olympic athletes are paid now? The ones who aren't paid are in a sport where they just don't get paid. The Dream Team in basketball isn't possible without paid athletes. This was a farce anyway since Russian and China have had basically professional athletes for a long time.
Why of course they are paid in ways that maintain their amateur status.... They are not paid until they turn pro. The Dream Team had to eventually happen, because every other countries basketball players were playing in professional leagues. We finally caught up to them. The extreme majority of Team USA athletes are not professional until they decide to give up their Olympic time.