Alica Schmidt, the German track star who was dubbed “the world’s sexiest athlete,” said earlier this week that she had turned down a major payday from a well-known sponsor.
The 25-year-old runner told the OMR podcast that she wasn’t completely into the sponsor that had offered her the deal. Schmidt has more than five million followers on Instagram alone and has a separate deal with BOSS.
“Two months ago, I received an offer from a well-known brand. But I wasn’t 100% behind it,” she said, via Germany’s Bild newspaper. “I don’t feel comfortable with that. That would have been in the mid to high six figures. For a campaign.”
The New York Post noted in October that Schmidt had said that members of the German national team get about $739 a month in sponsorship deals through Sporthilfe, which supports the athletes.
Schmidt made the German Olympic team for the 2020 Games a few years ago but did not compete. She’s aiming to make the team for the Paris Olympics in the summer.
“You have to go beyond your limits every day. It also often happens that I throw up after training, because that’s how you suffer,” she said. “It’s also the best feeling when you’ve done it and pushed yourself and noticed that progress somewhere.”
She was on the team for its silver medal performance in the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships and picked up a bronze medal in the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships.
