The Olympics: WHY?

I don't understand the Olympics.

Every two years a mostly fresh crop of muscle-y protein shake Olympic hopefuls compete to see who can run fastest, lift the heaviest object, land a triple lutz, etc. Okay, cool. You watch them on tv while they tell you the struggles the athletes overcame, the sacrifices they made, and the endless hours they trained. They usually play some sort of heroic-sounding trumpets in the background, too, and maybe even tell you how Coca-Cola is the official carbonated drink of the olympics. It's a nice little drama build.

But then, the athletes always fall, break an ankle, get some sort of horrible injury, or maybe just lose. A lot of athletes are bitterly disappointed when they get silver or bronze medals too, right? All of the time they spent training, a huge chunk, or maybe all of their lives, gone to shit. It's like instead of handing you a dimploma on your highschool graduation, the principal puts his arm on your shoulder and says "Uh, look... you're fourth in the class. And that's good, but we only give out dimplomas to the top three. Sorry. I mean, if you want to go back to first grade, you know, uh.. try again is what I guess I'm trying to say, sure. It's really your decision. I just want to let you know, as an aside, that i am just flat-out wowed by your accomplishments thus far. Don't let this be a blow to you. Because you've got something special. Don't forget that."

WHY?! To win a gold medal?! I mean, sure, hunky dory, go after what you want, but once you have that gold medal, what are you going to do? I mean, the satisfaction and fruition must be nice, but unless you get a cute little endorsement deal out of it, you have to get a job, right? What a let down that must be. I wonder if anyone ever pawned their gold medal.