Becoming an Olympic swimmer costs tens of thousands of dollars

Major scandals have undermined the reputation of the Olympics

With billions in public money in play and the high stakes of winning gold for one's country, the Olympics have had their fair share of scandals. This Global Investigative Journalism Network list highlights eight groundbreaking investigations by journalists about the Olympics. It includes the 2014 Russian doping scandal, venue corruption in Rio, and the decadeslong cycle of sexual abuse by an Olympic doctor.

'Without goals, training has no direction.'

- Twelve-time Olympic swimming medalist Natalie Coughlin (1982-present)

One halfpipe skier qualified for the Olympics via loopholes

Freestyle skier Elizabeth Swaney reached the 2018 Winter Olympics by completing safe, trick-free halfpipe runs and accumulating ranking points in low-participation events. The story, told humorously in this brief video, highlights how qualification systems can reward persistence and rule optimization over peak athletic performance.

Watch the Space Olympics from the International Space Station

From "synchronized space swimming" to "weightless sharpshooting," crew members in 2021 competed in microgravity versions of events from the summer Games. The "lack-of-floor routine" featured mid-air gymnastics as astronauts floated through space station modules.

Charting how many Olympic tickets are sold

This chart compares the total number of tickets sold for Summer Olympic sporting events with the number of tickets available. The article sources the data from the International Olympic Committee website and goes back to the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Campaigning for the Westminster dog show can cost up to $6K

Before dogs make it to the high-profile Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, owners invest money in registering their dog in numerous shows, paying for professional photoshoots, and grooming services. While winning dog shows often doesn't come with cash prizes, it does usually result in more interest in the dog's breeding stock.

A typical weekend at Coachella can cost thousands of dollars

Coachella might be a cutting-edge cultural event, but it doesn't come for free. Beyond the high ticket prices—which typically start around $500—there are other costs, like lodging, food, and libations. This article spotlights four attendees who break down their expenses for the week and why, despite the hefty price tag, they were so interested in heading to the desert.

Olympic track runner Jesse Owens recounts his win in Hitler's Germany in 1936

Jesse Owens won four gold medals at these Games, but nearly failed to qualify for the long jump event. Despite the polarizing political climate, German athlete Luz Long offered advice and encouragement to Owens—his direct competitor—resulting in a lasting friendship Owens later called his "greatest Olympic prize."

Olympians view sleep as a performance tool, prioritizing routine and environment

Elite athletes emphasize consistent sleep routines, dark and cool environments, the well-placed nap, and tools like eye masks, white noise machines, and supplements like melatonin (particularly for jet lag). This priority belies a core principle: recovery and performance are inseparable. Read more ways Olympians "sleepmaxx" here.

F1 is a billion-dollar industry

...but that money doesn't come easily. Team principals have to constantly ensure money is coming in to fund their million-dollar cars every weekend. This CNBC video explores all the costs of running a team. It also shows how team principals woo sponsors and find ways to maximize their technology with a cost cap.

Anatomy of the Philippines' first Olympic gold medal

The Philippines won its first Olympic gold medal in 2020. This article explores how much effort, on national and individual levels, went into weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz's clean and jerk that lifted the country from a nearly century-long...

Synchronized swimming dates back to Ancient Rome

Known for gruesome gladiatorial contests, ancient Rome's aquatic spectacles may have been even more over-the-top. This article dives into the art of synchronized swimming in ancient Rome. Lakes were dug and amphitheaters flooded to provide space for aquatic reenactments of naval battles and artistic performances. Swimmers playing the role of water nymphs would create elaborate shapes, including ships with billowing sails.

The lifetime cost of the American dream exceeds $5M

A new analysis suggests it costs millions of dollars to maintain the American dream over a lifetime. The price tag includes retirement, healthcare, higher education, homeownership, and other core elements of a comfortable life for the average American.

Swimming boosts the risk of contracting swimmer's ear by fivefold

The term swimmer's ear is a bit of a misnomer since other factors including scratches to your ear from Q tips, trapped perspiration inside the ear when you sweat, and living in tropical climates can elevate the risk of contracting this outer ear infection. But swimming poses the greatest risk: widely cited research has found that swimming elevates the risk of contracting this infection fivefold.

Ranking the world's highest paid athletes in 2022

The top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world include players from 10 sports and 24 countries. They earned $4.46 billion in total income, including $3.24 billion in salary and prize money, as well…

What it takes to become a professional jockey

This short documentary follows a young, amateur jockey through early mornings and exhaustive gym sessions, where she rides a simulator made to look like real horses. It's a peek into a highly specialized (and highly unusual) athletic pursuit.

Making the Oscar statuette is a thorough and involved process

From casting the molten metal into its iconic shape, to the electroplating process that gives Oscar his signature 24-carat golden glow, to assembling the finished product and engraving the winner's name, there's much more to this knight than meets the eye.

The hypercompetitive world of becoming a K-pop star

K-pop, a global $8B industry, rose from its 1990s regional roots to worldwide fame thanks to hits like “Gangnam Style.” Trainees endure years of intense training in performance and media skills, with only 4% to 5% debuting.

The money behind Eurovision

Countries pay to take part in Eurovision, with the biggest economies—Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain, also known as the Big Five—paying the most. That unequal entry fee is not entirely for charity's sake: The Big Five countries are guaranteed spots in Eurovision's finals.

The value of a 400 oz gold bar hit $1M for the first time in 2024

On Aug. 16, 2024, the gold bar size often seen in movies hit $1M in value for the first time when the price of gold reached $2,500 per troy ounce. A data visualization shows what other gold bar sizes are worth and compares them to the size of an iPhone.

The average cost for an in-state, public university is close to $30K per year

To cover the cost, students turn to a variety of sources. Parental contributions plus savings funds cover about half of the expenses on average, with students relying on other sources—typically federal aid, in the form of scholarships and loans—to cover the rest.

Companies pay multiple fees as part of the IPO process

When a company decides to approach IPO, it typically hires investment bankers—who earn about 7% of the IPO’s gross proceeds—to help set the organization’s target valuation range and schedule an IPO date. But that isn't the only fee associated with the IPO process.

Raising the price of a Peloton bike increased the company's early sales—and that's part of why the bikes are so expensive

The original Peloton stationary bikes sold for about $1.2K, but Peloton founder John Foley said that price point made consumers skeptical of the product's quality. After increasing the price of a bike to $2K, Foley said people started to believe it was a quality product, and sales soon increased.

On one sailor's race to sail around the world solo

People wanting to sail around the world in modern times can sign up for the Golden Globe Race, a decades-old, organized sprint to circumnavigate the world by ship. This long-form article follows one woman's journey as she attempted to complete the...

How much your blood really costs

In the US, donating plasma twice a week can earn you $400 a month. But this system only works by targeting people who need the money most. Plasma clinics are placed in low-income zip codes, and frequent donation may increase health risks.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.