For many of the 10,500 athletes converging on France for this month’s Olympics, they will be realising or chasing a lifelong dream.
Winning an Olympic medal is the very pinnacle for most of the 32 sports on offer. The feat won’t be matched by any other accolade throughout their career.
For most – but certainly not for all.
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It’s why the golfers selected to wear the green and gold at Le Golf National have mixed reactions when asked where the Olympics ranks on their to-do list.
Golf featured at the Games in 1900 and 1904 but then disappeared from the schedule for 112 years.
When it returned for the Rio 2016 event, the world’s No.1 ranked man opted out of competing.
Aussie golfers Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Jason Day. PGA TOUR
That was Aussie star Jason Day.
Day had climbed to the top of the world rankings on the back of winning the 2015 PGA Championship – his first and only major triumph to date – and the 2016 Players Championship, which is colloquially known as golf’s fifth major.
Put bluntly, the Olympics did not hold the same allure as the tournaments Day was competing in from week to week as a professional.
“It was never really a thought that I’d be able to play in the Olympics, because it wasn’t ever a part of it until just recently,” Day told Australian media after being named as one of four Olympic golfers.
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“I (now) get nervous about the possibility of winning a gold medal – even just a medal in general – which means that I really want to.”
Day did, however, suggest his motivation for winning an Olympic medal does come with an ulterior motive.
“Currently I’ve got one major championship, I’ve got one Players Championship, got 13 (PGA Tour) wins… am I on the outside looking in on the Hall of Fame? Maybe, I’m not sure,” he said.
“But if I do win a gold medal I honestly feel that will push me over the edge (of Hall of Fame induction).
“Knowing that I’m in the Olympics now and representing Australia, it feels different. People have worked their whole life to get to this point.
“It (will be) really cool to look back when I’m retired… that I did represent Australia at the Olympics.”
Min Woo Lee and Minjee Lee high five. Getty
While Day was chatting via a Zoom call from America he was looking at his trophy cabinet, that includes 13 PGA Tour trophies as well as the esteemed Wanamaker Trophy – the PGA Championship cup that stands 75cm tall and weighs 12 kilograms.
An Olympic medal – even of the gold variety – would be dwarfed, physically speaking, when put next to that piece of silverware.
The other factor for professional golfers is money.
Across his 16 seasons on the PGA Tour, Day has earned about USD$60.5 million in prize money alone. In today’s exchange rate that’s more than $90m Australian.
Even his Olympic teammate Min Woo Lee, 25, has earned USD$5.5m in just 43 events.
Last week their countryman Cam Davis – who did not qualify for the Olympics – pocketed AUD$2.5m for winning his second PGA Tour event.
The Australian Olympic Committee will pay gold medallists $20,000 for a win in Paris. A silver medal will net them $15,000 while bronze is $10,000. Most athletes won’t be paid unless they finish on the podium.
For top professional sports like golf, tennis and basketball, the risk is arguably not worth the possibility of a medal around their neck.
For some, it’s more advantageous to use the Olympic period to take a break from competing.
Minjee Lee – Australia’s second-ranked women’s golfer and two-time major winner – does not agree.
Major winner Minjee Lee of Australia. Getty
“The Olympics is something a bit bigger than just playing for yourself, you’re playing for your country,” she told Australian media last week.
“It’s the biggest honour you could have in terms of playing for your country.
“I know week in week out we do represent Australia, but we’re not playing for Australia, and the atmosphere (at the Olympics) is just a little different.
“You’ve got to be there to experience it.”
Lee – who will be joined by Hannah Green in the women’s contingent for Australia – was speaking on the same Zoom call as her younger brother Min Woo.
Min Woo was a teenager when golf returned to the Olympics in Rio, and he admits a gold medal was not always on his to-do list.
“I think it’s very high up there now. At first it was like, not really… growing up for the swimming, for track, the Olympics was the biggest thing,” he explained.
“I think golf is definitely becoming that way. It’s up there… maybe not like the Masters, or the majors, but right behind it for sure.
“To call yourself a gold medallist is very cool for your resume, and it’s nearly as cool as winning a major I guess.”
Minjee is heading to her third Olympics, while her brother and Day will be there for the first time.
Yet the contrast in their reactions to the same question highlight the awkward reality of global professional sports at the Games.