Eric Hurd has been an elite-level athlete for more than a decade. He and Jeff Larimer make up the fastest slalom canoe doubles team in the United States; they finished 12th at the London Olympics. Yet their athletic future is hardly secure.

“I spend 15 to $20,000 on training and competing and only make $12,000,” Hurd, who is known as Butter, said after returning from London. “I’m generally training 20 to 30 hours a week, and work about the same amount of time, part time for a few different companies that allow me time off when I need it for training.”

Although Olympians like the swimmer Michael Phelps and the gymnast Gabby Douglas can look forward to lucrative sponsorship deals, many others have been reduced to poring over their bank statements. For athletes who compete in low-profile sports, especially the nonmedalists, the decision whether to gear their training toward the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro will be largely a financial one.

National sports federations offer some help, mainly in the form of monthly stipends or performance-based pay, and families frequently go into debt providing support. But for many athletes who toil outside the spotlight, finding a paying job that will provide the flexibility to train is the real lifeline they require.