Paris Olympics 2024: 21-Year-Old Kali Wilding Reveals the Financial Battles Athletes Endure To Achieve Their Dreams

Kali Wilding is ready to etch her Olympic name while she qualifies in the Team Trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite her Australian roots, she is now set to represent the United States, after shifting her nationality. Her ability in sprint kayaking has also brought her various accolades, such as representing the 2021 USA Senior National Sprint Kayaking Team and the Sprint Kayaking Junior/U23 Worlds Team 2019. However, the path has not been easy either for her or for many like her.

While it is difficult to train at a certain specialized level for global competitive sports, the current winner of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials acknowledged openly the challenges faced by every sportsperson in etching their name in the US National Team.

A recent podcast, Dying to Ask: Road to Paris revealed the 21-year-old Kali Wilding talking about the difficulties faced by people wanting to qualify for the Olympic roster. As the Olympics does not sponsor everything that a sportsperson puts in during his training throughout, Kali Wilding does not forget to mention the sacrifices made by athletes in their Olympic journeys.

“Yeah, I think it’s really impressive how many people are working full-time and part-time jobs,” she says. “So I think it is a challenge to balance finances because there’s also costs of traveling. Sometimes things aren’t subsidized or fully paid for. And so not only are you paying to live and not getting money for training, but you’re also trainingpaying sometimes to travel and compete as well. Right. So it’s tough,” she explains further.

Kali Wilding, however, does not forget to talk about the immense support of grants and subsidies people also get from the USOPC. But she still feels there is much room for financial support required to fulfill the needs of the sportspersons coming forward to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 2024 Paris Olympic qualifier is herself a multi-tasker who builds in her finances through various aspects other than just the sport she pursues. Let us know what she dwells on.

A multi-tasker and an achiever

Kali Wilding is not just aiming to medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but she is also double majoring in real estate development and business administration. Revolving around multiple peripheries, her dynamic prospects focus on a decent career in Commercial Real Estate Development. A non-competitive gymnast as well, she dwells in gymnastic routines as a part of her daily strive to stay fit and healthy.

In fact, amidst the challenges, she has good training at the root level because of her mother, Shelley Oates-Wilding, a 2x Olympian and her personal canoe kayak coach for Team USA. Thus, the winner of the K-2 sprint kayak event at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the CSUS Aquatic Center at Lake Natoma in California lately, further dreams to etch her name in the Continental Olympic qualifier rounds in Florida in April 2024 and later in the grandiose Olympic Games.

Read More: Paris Olympics 2024: Stuck Between Two Dreams, Kali Wilding Reveals Qualification Difficulties