Chariots of money

The commercialization and "professionalization" of the Olympics is a phenomenon that is widely recognized and apparently grudgingly accepted by the public.  The extent to which the athletes are subsidized by their corporate sponsors is best exemplified by snowboarder Shaun White, who has a private halfpipe built exclusively for him by his [name redacted] sponsor, located in a remote mountain site accessible only by helicopter.

When 60 Minutes reported on White's multimillion-dollar enterprise, the reporter/interviewer apparently found it convenient (or was required?) to address the camera while leaning on the corporate sponsor's logo.  They're all in this bed together...

For a modicum of relief, I turn to the curling teams, whose lifestyles are a bit closer to the old ideal of the amateur athlete.  The Star Tribune reported on their accommodations in Vancouver:

A brand-new penthouse suite, with a spectacular view, valued somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million.  For an athlete used to living in anonymity, though, a three-week stay in these digs offers a rare taste of the high life. The living room is bigger than the two-bedroom apartment that curlers John Shuster, Jason Smith and Jeff Isaacson share with three other guys in Duluth. Their lavish temporary home is all part of the fun of the Winter Games...

Many of the curlers are Minnesotans

...from places such as Bemidji and Chisholm and St. Michael, people with regular jobs and average physiques who earned the right to walk alongside global superstars at the Olympics.

U.S. men's coach Phill Drobnick of Duluth is a probation officer for St. Louis County. Shuster tends bar at the Duluth Curling Club and is a groundskeeper at a golf course in the summer. Nicholson works a 2-10 p.m. shift as an emergency-room nurse at a Bemidji hospital, and Isaacson is a substitute teacher...

They also have sponsors, whose backing allows them to "break even" re their Olympic expenses, and they gladly accept some perks, including custom-tailored clothing by Ralph Lauren and "duffel bags stuffed with gear."

That's probably as close to "amateur" athletes as one can find at the Olympics.