When Gold Doesn’t Pay: The Economic Realities of Olympic and non-Olympic Artistic Sports

After the victory of Kazakh figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Kazakhstan has strived in the cheerful patriotic wave, welcoming the new champion. Misha’s story to the Olympic gold was truly remarkable and it clearly proves to be something the nation needed. Shaidorov not only brought the gold medal home, but also provoked a sudden unity in  a society that has been polarizing (politically and culturally) over the last years. While Misha is being overwhelmed with mass media and fans attention now, his unexpected success in Milano will not only stay as the greatest achievement in his career, but hopefully will grant him financial security and freedom for the rest of his life. 

Although today Misha is sponsored by a private company and probably after getting an Olympic title will attract more ambassador contracts, only few years ago his dad had to sell his car to allow Shaidorov pursue his sport. It is also interesting to see how the country actively celebrates talents only after their international achievements, but rarely supports them during their rise to success.

Kazakhstan was active in supporting Olympic champions, but in the moments of real challenge (financial, mental, physical) the government lacked apparatus that could support national athletes. Most of the sports successes in countries like Kazakhstan are individual, which means that unlike the United States or Russia these athletes are not raised by a strong sporting system within the country, yet they achieve high level through a combination of unique individual talent, international coaching and private investments. 

Individual talent rule is present in many sports and the situation is even more complex in non Olympic artistic sports, like ballroom dancing. Despite the costliness of dancesport, non-olympicism makes the level of events (unless there is more private investment and sponsors) and support for dancers much lower. For his historical gold in figure skating, Shaidorov was offered a car and a luxurious apartment in the capital, Astana. Whereas, in 2022 Maxim Zhilenkov & Arina Molochinkova, who were the first couple in Kazakhstan’s history to win the Youth 10 dance World Championship in Latvia, were congratulated with less than 500 USD per couple, which is worth 0.67% of professional dancers' usual spendings.

However, my goal is not to compare these two sports, but to draw attention to their economics and point out the systemic inefficiency of raising talents in artistic sports in our country. Corruption of government prevents the strengthening of structures and institutions that can enable sustainable development of sports. The choice of which sport to sponsor is never neutral, but political, as well as cultural. The gender gap in competitive ballroom dancing is still present and can lead to lower development. There are simply more females than males, which prevents many from finding a partner. In Kazakh mentality most parents would still prefer giving boys to boxing and martial arts, rather than dancing as it is labelled “not masculine”. Indeed the country is considered an international leader in these sports. The allocation of a country's resources and being a boxing empire is a choice that follows with investments, prestige and support for athletes, therefore it is not impossible to become one in artistic sports too.

On a world level things are complex too. World Dancesport Federation (WDSF) recognised by the International Olympic Committee is an international body that governs official dance events, has made a significant effort to institutionalize ballroom dancing. However, it is not the only major structure in the field. There is a World Dance Council (WDC) that is as important and popular as WDSF, yet is not officially recognized by the IOC. The federations that previously were one, divided the dancing community, taking completely different directions. One moved towards making the sport Olympic, the other one tried to preserve the existing tradition and knowledge. The lack of unity in the ballroom dancing community and federations makes it much harder to promote development of the sport itself. Because both federations, despite all attempts to maximize the scale of events, simply cannot do it larger than if they would unite their efforts.

Finally, there is hope that Shaidorov’s Olympic gold could actually become a further step for the creation of a greater figure skating system in Kazakhstan, that would carry his and deceased Denis Ten’s legacy. At the same time, there is a hope that there will be more economic transparency and support to the dancesport national team. Strong systems in artistic sports are needed and they are important, not only to resolve the financial issues and allow more athletes to participate. But also because systems can be able to protect athletes and further fight other structural issues like gender based violence, sexual harassment and violence against the children in sports. Unless the systems are established we will continue to have individual sparks of sport success and our national athletes will move abroad, seeking development. The country must reinvest in its economy and artistic sports can become a significant part of it. 

About the Author

Alua Kargabayeva is an undergraduate majoring in International Relations & Global Politics with a minor in Economics at the American University. She maintains her role as a full time student while pursuing a professional career in dancesport. Alua is a 2024 world vice-champion in Under 21category, her titles also include...

·       Champion of German Open Championship (2025)

·       Champion of WDSF Blackpool Dance Festival (2025)

·       2nd in Asian Championship (2023)

·       3rd in European Championship (2022)

·       4 times Kazakhstan national champion (2019, 2023,2024,2025)

·       6 times Azerbaijan national champion (2021,2022).

References

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