Olympian quits Team GB for Latvia after starting spicy page to fund sporting dreams
Klass Francisks Rozentals has turned to making spicy content (Instagram/francisklass2.0)
Klass Francisks Rozentals has revealed he’s left Team GB to compete for Latvia instead, after starting an adults-only subscription page on OF.
Last year, his brother Kurts Adams Rozentals was suspended by Paddle UK for what he believed was his spicy content online. He started the page to help fund his sporting career, saying he earned $130,000 in a few months, compared to the annual grant of $21,000 he received from Paddle UK.
Klass has since launched his own page, explaining more straightforward side hustles like bartending made his training schedule very difficult.
But rather than risk the wrath of Paddle UK, Klass, 20, has left Team GB and will instead compete for Latvia, where his family is from.
Speaking of athletes turning to creating adult content, he wrote on Instagram: “This is happening to athletes right now. Forced to choose between financial stability or the Olympics.
“I started my page to fund my sports career after dedicating my life to it, but never receiving funding. But I received so much backlash…”
He went on: “For a canoe slalom athlete chasing the Olympics, one four-year cycle is roughly £100,000 to £180,000 in total costs.
“I tried bartending and construction work, but never had the time to train to compete.”
Now, though, he added: “I can finally afford my dream. But knowing it could be taken away at any time because of how I find it sucks.
“Two choices – either normalise paying athletes reasonable salaries. Or normalise them funding themselves through whatever means necessary.”
Athletes and spicy content
Olympians turning to adult content to fund their sporting careers is nothing new. Divers like Jack Laugher, Noah Williams and Matty Lee, among others, have all started OF pages in the past.
They, however, were not banned from competing.
It’s reported that Kurts was suspended due to the more explicit nature of his content, which, according to Outsports, saw him engage in a sexual act on a plane, which brought his sport into “serious disrepute”.
The canoeist told the BBC in October last year: “This ban would have never happened if athletes were funded properly.”
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