COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Urban Meyer is part of the Olympic movement. So are Ohio State football players such as Braxton Miller, John Simon and Johnathan Hankins, as well as any fan who buys a ticket to a Buckeyes football game.

"Almost every sport we have, the athletes have a chance to go to the Olympics, with the exception of football," said Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith. "But there's no question that they should be proud of what they're doing to help provide a platform for Olympians to represent our country."

As the debate continues over whether football players and other college athletes should be paid, or at least be provided a stipend, the Olympics remind us where a chunk of money made by the football team winds up: paying for Olympic sports that have no hope of supporting themselves.

And Olympic sports create Olympians.

For instance, Amanda Furrer, who will be a senior in Ohio State's Fisher College of Business in the fall, still might be competing at the Summer Olympics in the women's 50-meter, three-position rifle event without those football players.

But she probably wouldn't be doing it as a Buckeye. Only 34 schools in the NCAA have a rifle team, but Ohio State offers it as one of its 36 varsity sports. No other university has as many teams as Ohio State.

"I've been involved shooting internationally since I was 16, when I made the USA national team. I knew that going to the Olympics was going to happen if I stayed focused and worked hard," Furrer said in an email exchange. "I've had so much support from Ohio State, it's really incredible. The whole athletic department was behind me from the beginning of my college experience, making sure I had everything I needed to give the Olympics a real shot. We might not have the same profile as some of the bigger sports, but we do have the same support. I am just so excited to be able to represent the United States and am proud to call myself a Buckeye. It's truly a blessing."

According the 2011-12 fiscal budget for the Ohio State athletic department, which ended in June and hasn't been completely finalized, Buckeyes football brought in more than $35 million in the past school year. The 11 Olympians who are either former or current Buckeyes should be grateful.

The eight sports that will feature Buckeyes in London -- men's fencing, soccer and swimming; women's diving, fencing, rowing and swimming; and co-ed rifle -- cost more than $5.5 million last year. And Ohio State can handle it.

"It's a huge financial issue for a lot of colleges across the country, but that's why we are so fortunate that we do have the resources to help these young people reach their dreams," Smith said.

Casual OSU fans might not think of Olympic sports often, but when reminded, Smith said they respond. When he spoke at an OSU women's football clinic in June, he told those attending that OSU senior track athlete Christina Manning was in Oregon, competing at the Olympic Trials. When clinic participants were told later in the afternoon that Manning had advanced to the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, Smith said, they cheered. Manning was Ohio State's Female Athlete of the Year, while fencer Zain Shaito, who will represent Lebanon at the Olympics, was the male equivalent.

Manning didn't make the Olympic team, falling just short with a fifth-place finish in the finals, in which the top three earned Olympics berths. But she serves as a reminder that, beyond the 11 OSU Olympians, a lot more Buckeyes put themselves in position to chase Olympic goals.

But that still costs money. Women's track costs more than $1.1 million a year.

Furrer, by comparison, is a relative Olympic bargain, with the co-ed rifle team costing $284,000 last year. A native of Washington state, she said she canceled every other recruiting trip after visiting Ohio State.

"I think colleges can play a huge role in any sport that competes in the Olympics," Furrer said. "Going to college as an athlete means that you have something more you want to give to your sport, that your dream extends further than recreation. You go to college as an athlete to develop and refine your skills even more, which can put you on track for the Olympics. Without the universities supporting these sports, I think there would be a lack of that development."

Scott Blackmun, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said he would like to have a closer relationship with the NCAA to help increase that support. Ideally, he would like to help schools with fundraising ideas. But at the very least, he wants the USOC to say thanks.

"We can make sure the NCAA knows that we appreciate the positive impact that they're having on our nation's success at the Olympic Games," Blackmun said. "And it's not just the USOC -- these athletes are representing our nation."

Blackmun wants to increase the cooperation, but Smith isn't sure what more can be done. The USOC and NCAA talked about collaborating more in 1995. In 2004, there was a task force that looked at the decline of Olympic sports in the NCAA. That group came up with recommendations to identify at-risk programs and find ways to raise money, control costs and market the sports. But the schools probably already knew that.

And the issues haven't changed. Most college athletic departments operate at a loss. Ohio State's doesn't. So the Buckeyes and the schools similar to them will try to carry their share of the Olympic dream.

Bob Bowman, the coach for swimming star and 16-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, said when he served as the swimming coach at Michigan, the school that Phelps attended, "I knew the budget was always going to be there because we had Michigan football."

At Ohio State, Furrer has Christian Bryant, Andrew Norwell, Ryan Shazier and the rest of the Buckeyes football team to thank.

"My teammates and I run into athletes all over the place, whether it be in class, at an event, at the gym, or just in passing, and we all get to know each other," Furrer said. "It's nice spending time with other athletes because we all understand the sacrifices we have to make and how hard we work trying to balance school and our sports.

"Being a Buckeye is something to be proud of, and I know the benefits of being a student-athlete there are going to extend far past anything I can see now. I've already made the Olympic team, and I can say I owe a lot of that to being at Ohio State."