People shocked after Rebecca Adlington reveals how much Olympians actually earn

The comparison to football is mind-blowing

Elite sport is a polarising world that athletes at the top end earn millions of pounds while those at the lower ends of in smaller sports just about make ends meet.

Cristiano Ronaldo is still the world's highest earning sportsperson, raking in a massive £200m per year according to Forbes followed by dozens of other athletes making millions in a multitude of sports all over the world.

However, it is often the Olympic sports that suffer the most with many competitors being amateur or relying mostly on national sport committee funding with many people not realising how much Olympians really earn.

Double Olympic gold medallist swimmer Rebecca Adlington revealed in an interview exactly the figure that elite-level, Olympic swimmers receive yearly and it has left many people shocked.

Adlington said: "Footballer's get paid probably what we get in ten years, you get around £26,000 for being an elite swimmer, so it's very different."

Most elite athletes such as swimmers are funded through prize money, sponsorship money and national funding in order to train do the full-time training requirements of an elite athlete.

Some athletes have even been forced to alternative methods in order to earn enough cash to keep their careers afloat while British gold medallist diver Jack Laugher started an Only Fans account to help pay his way to Paris 2024.

"I'd take the money from football and give it to swimming just because there is none in swimming," Adlington said.

This discrepancy in earnings for sportsperson in respective sports is exemplified by the fact Cristiano Ronaldo will earn 21 times more than a swimmer will in one year, in just a singular day, earning around £500,000 daily.

Meanwhile GB's swimmers continue to deliver in the pool as they have done since Rebecca Adlington inspired Great Britain in Beijing in 2008 winning two gold medals.

GB will be looking to the likes of Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott to bring home more medals in the coming days.