Jutta Leerdam didn’t win gold to become a headline about underwear, and she didn’t cry on the Olympic ice to pad an imaginary paycheck. The Dutch speed skater left the Winter Olympics with two medals: an Olympic gold in the 1,000-meter race, and a global spotlight that comes with 6.4 million Instagram followers watching her every move. That spotlight also brought a Daily Mail headline that framed her success around flashing a Nike sports bra and “raking in cash” for it. But the criticism over the article gained significant momentum after journalist Emily Clarkson tore into the Daily Mail for framing it the way they did.

“Off the bat, this is a gold medal-winning athlete being reduced to nothing more than her association with a man,” Clarkson said in an Instagram video on her platform. “You could maybe argue that, given his fame, his inclusion in the title is a journalistically relevant decision. I would absolutely argue that it isn’t. What I think it is, in fact, is an editorially relevant one. And I think there’s a very big difference there, seeing as one tells the story and the other tells a story. And I think they are very much telling a story here. One that I think we should read.

“Because it goes on, ‘Jutta Leerdam pockets $1 million.’ Now, first things first, this has been reported as fact when it isn’t. The entire article came off the back of an interview with an advertising expert who was basically saying that she could earn as much as this in her role as a Nike athlete. This would not be unprecedented. In fact, it’s kind of how this industry works, which the Daily Mail well knows, making this entire article a bit of a moot point, except there’s an agenda at play.”

The Olympian’s response to the video? Leerdam added a comment that was short and precise: “The things they make up these days are just wild.”

The numbers behind the headline deserve context. An advertising expert told Dutch media that with Nike, Leerdam could earn over $1 million across incentives. Another estimate suggested she could make roughly one cent per follower per sponsored post, which would put a Nike post in the €62,000 range, given her 6.4 million followers. Those are projections, not pay stubs.

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They’re also not out of step with how modern athlete branding works at the elite level. Jutta Leerdam’s medals matter here. She won gold in the 1,000m and added silver, rebounding after crashing out in qualifying late last year and relying on the Dutch Olympic Committee to even put her in her strongest event. She repaid that faith with an Olympic record. That performance is the asset brands care about.

The Daily Mail story also leaned into her tears after the race, suggesting they “raked in the cash.” Clarkson called that out as a tired trope, reading it as a way to frame “female” emotion as manipulation. The daughter of former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson argued that crying after winning Olympic gold isn’t a strategy. It’s a human response to a monumental achievement coming to reality.

That critique resonated because Leerdam’s emotions became part of the marketing narrative, too. A Dutch retailer even ran a post about water-resistant eyeliner after her makeup ran down her face as she broke into tears. It all stacks up into a pattern where performance gets overshadowed by presentation.

Leerdam’s public image is already complicated by celebrity. She’s engaged to Jake Paul, who posted, “From now on call me Jutta Leerdam’s fiancé,” and shared celebratory clips after her medals.

The skater has also been labeled a “diva” for flying private to the Games. None of that changes what happened on the ice. She trained, raced, set a record, and won. The money talk will follow any athlete with her reach. The problem is when the story tells you that money is the point. After all, there was even a moment when Leerdam thought she wouldn’t even be able to compete at the games!

Jutta Leerdam shares a stunning admission about winning Olympic medals despite being “sick”

That part got buried under the headlines. Jutta Leerdam arrived in Milan–Cortina with a massive following as a proven medalist, having taken silver in Beijing in 2022, and she backed that reputation again last week by winning gold in the 1,000m with an Olympic record. She followed it with a silver in the 500m. Two medals in a week don’t happen by accident, and it’s the kind of output brands chase because it’s built on performance.

“What a day. I woke up sick yesterday,” Leerdam shared on her Instagram story. “I don’t know how I pulled this off, but so happy I did!!!”

That’s not a small thing in speed skating, where margins are measured in hundredths of seconds, and your body has to be sharp to survive two events at that level. Competing while ill, then setting a record, adds context to the tears people tried to spin into marketing.

So when the conversation drifts back to bras, brand value, and made-up payday figures, it misses the point again. The viral moment wasn’t the unzip. It was an elite athlete pushing through illness, delivering gold and silver, and doing it under Olympic pressure. And that part deserves attention.