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≡ CANOEING AND POVERTY? ≡
“The breaches of the Athlete Code of Conduct and Performance Athlete Agreement amounted to gross misconduct invoking the following clauses under 8.6 of the Athlete Disciplinary Policy:
“● Deliberate actions or omissions that bring Paddle UK’s name into serious disrepute.
“● Indecent, offensive or immoral behaviour.
“● Offensive use of social media.”
That’s the decision of the Paddling UK governing body in the case of slalom canoer Kurts Adams Rozentals, 23, who has turned to the explicit-video OnlyFans site to earn money for training, but then showed too much on a mainstream social site. Per the Paddling UK disciplinary notice posted on Friday (31st):
“Paddle UK can confirm that in line with our Athlete Disciplinary Policy, a canoe slalom athlete has been de-selected from the World Class Programme and issued with a two year suspension which is back dated to the time of the offence.
“The decision was issued by a disciplinary panel following an independent investigation led by Sport Integrity and a disciplinary hearing where the athlete presented his case.
“The disciplinary panel found that:
“● the athlete admitted posting an explicit video on their public Instagram profile which was subsequently removed given its explicit nature.
“● the athlete had intentionally misinformed the press that his suspension was related to his OnlyFans social media account.”
Rozentals won a European U-23 Championships bronze in the men’s C-1 class in 2024 and a Worlds U-23 C-1 silver in 2023. He complained publicly in May about the modest funding allocated to him and that he had to turn to the adult-content-allowed OnlyFans site to make money.
The BBC reported Friday that “he uploaded a video of him performing what it called a ‘sexual act’ on an aeroplane to his public Instagram account in March, and that this amounted to gross misconduct.”
Rozentals told the BBC he thought the sanction was “extreme” but also said that while had realized £100,000 from the video from January to May 2025, he received only £16,000 as an annual stipend from Paddling UK (£1 = $1.32 U.S.):
“This ban would have never happened if athletes were funded properly. And while I understand the video could be described as crazy, it was not illegal and certainly shouldn’t be the reason for banning an athlete.”
He continued:
“Looking back now, I probably wouldn’t post something like that. But I remember the state of mind I was in when I did film it and post it. It was the first time in my life I saw real progress in my financial situation. It was the first time I was able to fund the training myself.
“It was the first time I was able to get my mum something nice after her sacrificing everything in order to allow me to chase my dream. And it came from crazy videos like the one that got me banned.
“I saw a direct correlation of me making those type of videos and my life situation improving. So, I was in this state of mind where I knew that all I have to do to continue this, is keep making videos like this. It’s a crazy world we live in. I don’t regret it.”
As the posting was in March 2025, Rozentals will be internationally eligible again sometime in March of 2027, well in advance of the 2027 ICF World Slalom Championships in Spain and a shot at participating in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Observed: Rozentals’ situation is common to athletes in many Olympic sports which do not have mass public followings and which see very little revenue outside of the quadrennial Olympic television money from the International Olympic Committee.
The last posted financial statements from the International Canoe Federation are from 2023, showing CHF a modest 439,719 in operating revenue and an operating loss of CHF 3.079 million for the year, and CHF 2.006 million operating revenue for 2022 and an annual operating loss of CHF 2.095 million. There were also investment losses which made the final annual results worse (CHF 1 = $1.24 U.S.).
As of the end of 2023, the ICF had CHF 12.851 million in assets and reserves of CHF 10.743 million. It survives, quadrennial to quadrennial, on its IOC television rights sales share.
It’s not a rich sport, for Rozentals or almost anyone else, save for a few superstars who win Olympic, World Championships and World Cup golds. And Rozentals isn’t doing that, at least not yet, and not until 2027 at the earliest.
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