52 Olympic Athletes Who Have "Normal" Jobs To Support Their Dreams

Reaching the Olympic level in any sport takes a huge amount of time — and money. Athletes have to pay for years of training, equipment, travel between competitions, etc. While some are able to make a living as full-time professional athletes, others work a secondary job to support their dreams.

Here are 52 Team USA athletes who have "normal" jobs:

Note: This won't include all of the hockey players who are PWHL and NHL pros!

1. During the off-season, alpine skier Keely Cashman works as a barista at the coffee shop her family owns, the Serene Bean.

2. Curler Tara Peterson is a dentist in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

3. Curler Tabitha Peterson Lovick (who's Tara's older sister) is a pharmacist.

4. Alpine skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle is employed at Cochran's Slopeside Syrup, which is the maple syrup shop his family runs.

5. Pairs figure skater Danny O'Shea is a realtor and pairs skating coach.

6. When snowboarder Cody Winters was only 18, he started his own company called Winters Window Washing, which he continues to run during the summer.

7. Curler Rich Ruohonen is a personal injury attorney. He's a partner at his firm, where he specializes in representing victims of car accidents and traumatic brain injuries.

8. In the summer, alpine skier Paula Moltzan works as a whitewater rafting guide so that she and her husband, Ryan Mooney (who's also her ski technician), can afford to travel during the ski season.

The rafting company she works for is owned by her in-laws.

9. Freestyle skier Chris Lillis teaches piano and guitar lessons in Park City, Utah.

10. During the off-season, luger Jonny Gustafson works various service jobs. It helps him decompress from training and stay busy.

11. Curler Danny Casper is a business development consultant who has a degree in strategic communications.

12. Pairs figure skater Emily Chan is a figure skating coach at The Skating Club of Boston.

13. Snowboarder Nick Baumgartner worked pouring concrete before becoming a gold medalist at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

15. Alpine skier Nina O'Brien earned her economics degree from Dartmouth, and she has a finance job at a private equity firm.

16. Ice dancer Madison Chock is a fashion designer for other figure skaters. Her business is called Madison Chock Design. In the 2024–25 season, the look she designed for Spanish skater Olivia Smart won the ISU's Best Costume.

17. Snowboarder Nathan Pare spends the off-season doing residential construction work, which helps fund his athletic career.

18. Skeleton athlete Dan Barefoot is a landscape architect.

19. Speedskater Clayton DeClemente has a job in the concession stand at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City. He balances his training with up to four shifts a week.

20. Alpine skier Sam Morse is a registered Maine Guide, which permits him to lead wilderness trips and similar experiences. He's also the founder of FAST (Faith and Ski Training) Camps, which, per the official website, aims "to strengthen the skiing skills and faith of young ski racers through coaching and community."

21. Curler Ben Richardson is a cellist. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

22. For five years, cross-country skier Jack Young had a summer job at Cajun's snack bar.

23. Cross-country skier Hailey Swirbul started coaching at Alaska Pacific University in 2025. Initially, she coached the junior program, and now, she also coaches the elite program.

24. Curler Aidan Oldenburg is an environmental scientist. His focus is on wind and solar project permits.

25. Singles figure skater Andrew Torgashev works as a coach at Great Park Ice.

26. Freestyle skier Dylan Walczyk partnered with instructor Michael Schaefer to co-found Steezy Joe Network, an online platform "where bump skiing is king, the vibe is chill, and the music takes you back to the golden era of skiing." They create instructional videos about mogul skiing on social media.

27. Curler Korey Dropkin is a realtor in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.

28. Ice hockey player Kendall Coyne Schofield voiced a hockey announcer in the Pixar movie Inside Out 2. She also runs the Schofield Family Foundation — which supports youth sports organizations, first responders, the military, and families in need in their community — with her husband, former NFL player Michael Schofield.

29. Curler Aileen Geving works in insurance.

30. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn runs a production company called Après Productions. She's also the author of two books — Strong Is the New Beautiful and Rise: My Story — and the founder of the Lindsey Vonn Foundation.

31. Snowboarder Chloe Kim has worked in the fashion industry. She's made multiple collections with Roxy, her outerwear sponsor, and she partnered with Vogue and eBay to model vintage looks for the "Eternal Eras of Fashion" campaign.

She told Vogue, "There's a big connection between fashion and sport because sport is another form of art where we really express ourselves. For me, snowboarding is my escape, and I think the same with fashion. Just being able to be myself unapologetically…I think, is the most empowering thing to feel. Fashion and sports both allow me to do that."

32. Curler Cory Thiesse is a lab technician.

33. Snowboarder Jake Vedder created an autobiographical comic book series.

34. Curler Luc Violette is a civil design engineer. He likes the angles and "weird physics" of curling.

35. Luger Summer Britcher has worked in sports broadcasting as an expert commentator.

36. Freestyle skier Derek Krueger is the co-owner of a Utah fly fishing guide service called Utah Troutfitters. He's an avid fly fisher.

37. Ski Mountaineer Cam Smith works as an instructor at the Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte.

Many athletes join the military and the World Class Athlete Program, which gives any military member the opportunity to compete in Olympic sports. It has training centers across the US. More than 450 soldier-athletes have competed at the highest level of their sports.

38. Pairs figure skater Spencer Akira Howe joined the Army in 2024. He's also a hockey and figure skating coach at The Skating Club of Boston.

39. In 2018, biathlete Sean Doherty signed up for the Army. With the Vermont Army National Guard, he's a carpentry and masonry specialist.

40. Bobsledder Frank Del Duca is an Army sergeant who's stationed in Lake Placid, New York.

41. Biathlete Maxime Germain is an aviation specialist in the Vermont Army National Guard.

42. Nordic combined skier Ben Loomis enlisted in the Army in 2019. He's a sergeant.

44. Biathlete Deedra Irwin has been in the Vermont Army National Guard since 2019.

45. Skeleton athlete Kelly Curtis is in the Air Force.

46. Luger Emily Fischnaller is an Army veteran who served for more than a decade. She also co-founded Champions 4 Changes, a nonprofit that runs Olympian and Paralympian-led fitness classes for people of all abilities.

Many Olympic athletes start nonprofits to support causes that are important to them.

47. Freestyle skier Winter Vinecki is the founder of Team Winter, which raises awareness and money for prostate research in honor of her late dad.

48. Snowboarder Red Gerard is the founder of the Red's Backyard Foundation, which aims to make board sports more accessible for kids.

49. Luger Zachary DiGregorio is the co-founder of Champions 4 Changes, a nonprofit that runs Olympian and Paralympian-led fitness classes for people of all abilities.

50. Snowboarder Jake Pates is the founder of the Happy Healthy Brain Foundation, which raises awareness about concussion protocols and the importance of baseline brain scanning for athletes.

He was inspired to start the organization after getting a concussion at a snowboarding event in 2019.

He told KOAA News5, "I basically lied to them and told them I was fine so I could get back out and not miss training and not miss the event. So when I did go back out, I was just all over the place with symptoms. Headache, dizziness, nausea, all the above. At the time, I never understood the impact that serious brain injuries could become."

51. Cross-country skier Samantha Smith is the co-founder of GO BIG Inc., which offers sports equipment, mentorship, and educational resources to kids in Boise.

52. And finally, singles figure skater Maxim Naumov is the on-ice director for the youth program his late parents founded, Tomorrow's Champions, at the Skating Club of Boston.

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