If you had just won gold at an international indoors athletic competition or taken home a silver medal for your country at a swimming event, you’d expect to be paid handsomely, right? But that isn’t the case for many of our best sportswomen. In fact, the majority are barely scraping a living – despite being at the very top of their field.

That’s according to the results of the BBC’s 2024 Elite British Sportswomen’s Study, which saw 615 elite sportswomen across 28 different sports asked to fill in a survey about their experiences. Of the 143 women who responded, only 93 were full-time athletes and 13 received absolutely zero income for being at the top of their field.

And although some athletes in high-profile sports like football and tennis may receive lucrative sponsorship opportunities, this study shows that’s not the case across the board. In fact, more than three-quarters of the respondents said they earned less than £30,000 a year from their sport, while four in 10 said they earned less than £10,000 a year (including grants, funding, prize money, salaries or sponsorship).

“4 in 10 elite sportswomen still earn less than £10,000 a year – it's not good enough”