A BRITISH canoeist has been banned from competing after earning £100,000 through his OnlyFans account.
Kurts Adams Rozentals was suspended in April by governing body Paddle UK following “allegations” about his social media posts.
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Paddle UK have removed Rozentals from their World Class Programme – which put athletes on the course for the Olympics – pending an investigation.
And while Paddle UK have refused to clarify the nature of the allegations, Rozentals suspects it is due to his OnlyFans side hustle.
He told BBC Sport: “I have been posting videos (on Instagram) that are consciously made to be edgy in order to drive conversions to my “spicy content page” (on OnlyFans), to fund this ultimate dream of going to the Olympics.”
Rozentals has more than 10,000 “likes” on OnlyFans and has posted 39 videos and over 100 photos on the website – known for hosting adult content.
The 22-year-old said he has earned more than £100,000 since creating his OnlyFans account in January.
Rozentals claimed he received a call from a Paddle UK representative last month to tell him that he was suspended from competing.
He could no longer contact any of the staff or athletes on the programme.
Rozentals revealed: “I kind of froze and I couldn’t believe the words I was hearing because this is what I put my life into this is everything I do.
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“My personality at this point, my identity, is sport and I want to be a professional athlete chasing my Olympic dream.”
Each athlete on Paddle UK’s programme receives an annual grant of £16,000 to support their training – but Rozentals says funding is not enough.
He added: “I don’t know how much you need but it’s certainly not £16,000.
“When you have to cover rent, travel, food… and most athletes who train full-time are all living in London. They’re very fortunate to have parent backing – I wasn’t.
“I never had the ability to move to London because of financial struggles so I was always doing the travel from the East Midlands, where I live, to London, back-and-forth, back-and-forth.”
Rozentals – who won individual C1 silver at the World Under-23 Championships in 2023 – now awaits the outcome of the investigation.
The athlete now faces choosing between his canoeing career continuing to run his OnlyFans site.
He said: “This is the hardest decision that I’ve ever faced in my life.
“I came to the realisation about why I started doing this last winter after years of struggle, years of living on the edge, my mum working 90 hours-a-week, having bailiffs at the door.
“I’m going to find a way where we don’t have to struggle, where my mum can enjoy her life and I’m able to put everything into this sport because when you’re thinking about how to pay the rent this month and you’re standing at the start line, that’s not very conducive [to performing well].
“It’s a tough decision but unless something changes in the way athletes are paid I don’t see a way of working with Paddle UK”.
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Content shared from www.the-sun.com.