The 592 athletes on are undeniably . They dedicate hours and days and years of their lives to training–perfecting their , or , or final relay kick. But many do not rest once their training day is over.
While it’s not uncommon for elite athletes to join boards or start companies, for Olympic athletes, and especially women, the extra “side hustle” can be more of a necessity: All-star athletes in less commercially popular sports regularly pick up other gigs to support their athletic dreams and full-time sports careers. That fact became clear to a wider audience in May, when Maggie Steffens, a 31-year-old professional water polo player on the Women’s National Team and three-time gold-winning Olympian, pointing out that she and her Paris-bound teammates had to work other jobs to keep playing the sport they love. (The women's team is now preparing for a semi-finals matchup against Australia on August 8.
) In the case of Steffens, who has played on international teams and coaches private water polo clinics on the side, she also co-founded a company called 6-8 Sports, which captures metrics and advanced data analytics, and employs live-game tracking for water polo matches. “Many of my teammates aren’t just badass champions, but also teachers, business owners, coaches, physicians assistants, and more. Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a second (or third) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommoda.