Sometimes, Wall Street bonuses fund dreams.
That’s the case for fund manager-turned-Olympic cyclist Evelyn Stevens. Stevens, who worked at Lehman Brothers before the firm collapsed, left her job at Gleacher Mezzanine in 2009 with hopes of becoming a professional cyclist, according to Bloomberg. Then something crazy happened: She did it.
Stevens placed 24th in an Olympic road race on Sunday, finishing just 27 seconds behind the gold medalist, according to NBC 4 New York. In addition to talent and grit, Stevens’ told Bloomberg that her Wall Street bonuses helped get her to the Olympics. The small purses from cycling alone wouldn’t have been enough to get her to the games. Instead, Stevens said she used some of the extra bonus money she saved from her days on Wall Street.
That's all somewhat of a Cinderella story. Four years ago, she would’ve never dreamed of making it to the Olympics. Watching the games was just a way to relax, she told Outside.
“The summer of 2008 was definitely a stressful time in New York City because of the economy, so the Beijing Games was always an outlet for me to go to another world,” she told the site.
Stevens’ story isn’t the only way Wall Street money is boosting the games. A group of former wrestlers working in finance that are part of a group called the Living the Dream Medal Fund plan to give an extra financial incentive to any American wrestlers that medal at the Olympics, according to a separate Bloomberg report.
The fund and Stevens’ story are indicative of a larger trend of close connections between Wall Street and Olympians. Many former Olympians end up working on Wall Street thanks to organizations like the Athlete Alumni Network, which places athletes at financial firms, according to MarketPlace.