Swimming-World Aquatics' new athlete support chief promises deeper dive into prize money concerns

Former Olympic champion ​Ranomi Kromowidjojo earned much more glory than prize money during her ‌swimming ​career but hopes to tip the balance towards more financial support for competitors as World Aquatics' first athlete engagement director.

The new, full-time role announced on Thursday puts the 36-year-old Dutchwoman in charge of managing and developing athlete support systems for the global body that governs swimming ‌in all its forms along with diving and water polo. For Kromowidjojo, part of that support will be pushing for more incentives for athletes who generally have little prospect of earning a decent living from their sports despite attaining success at the highest level.

World Aquatics allocated $10.13 million in prize money across all its sports in 2025, including $6.1 million at the world championships in Singapore. But at the athlete level, ‌it is no ticket to riches. Swimmers earned $20,000 for a world gold medal.

With the doping-friendly Enhanced Games luring swimmers with life-changing money at its inaugural event in Las Vegas in May, ‌Kromowidjojo said athletes need greater rewards for staying loyal to clean competition. "Yes, that's a simple answer," said Kromowidjojo, who won a relay gold in Beijing and swept the 50 and 100 metres freestyle events at London 2012.

"With Enhanced Games, where you can like earn literally millions of dollars, in the swimming world we're not used to it. "From when I was a swimmer, let's say 10 years ago, the prize money is improved, but I think we can also ⁠do it better," ​she told Reuters.

Barring the greatest like Michael Phelps, ⁠whose Olympic feats transcended swimming and made him a global celebrity, few athletes could claim to have grown wealthy from their success in aquatic sports. Olympic and world champion swimmer Cameron McEvoy is regarded as a hero in swimming-mad Australia ⁠after winning 50m freestyle gold at the Paris Games but even he has struggled to secure corporate sponsorship, he told Reuters.

McEvoy's 50m freestyle world record at a meet in China in March drew global headlines for ​the sport but did not earn him a penny. World Aquatics does not pay athletes for world records outside a handful of its own events. SUPPORT BREAKTHROUGHS

Kromowidjojo, who starts her ⁠role in October, wants that to change. "Now I'm diving deeper into World Aquatics and how we divide (funding). It is (allocated) into development programmes, like scholarship programmes? It is real prize money?" she said.

"I think we should support every athlete but also ⁠the ​breakthroughs. Swimming a world record means you're literally the fastest swimmer ever. So we have to keep that in mind and that's something I will definitely work on for the next months." Kromowidjojo's other major focus will be ensuring athletes have better tools and support at the end of their sporting careers to cope with the transition to normal life.

There is no shortage of ⁠high-profile athletes who have admitted struggling with depression and wellbeing issues amid the sudden loss of structure and support. World Aquatics has made efforts to smooth the transition with an initial $10m fund ⁠announced last year to allocate payments to athletes at ⁠the end of their careers based on their sustained participation in its events.

Kromowidjojo said that while those funds would help athletes, they also needed support to deal with what can be a jarring change of identity. "Athletes in all sports have the same struggles ... So there's already some ‌programmes and a lot of workshops ‌World Aquatics has but I think we can expand it and make it more suitable," she ​said.