The No. 1 épée fencer in the U.S. lives with several roommates in Astoria, Queens, and works at Dick’s Sporting Goods to help pay the rent.

Many of the Olympic athletes who don’t gain world-wide fame and end up on a Wheaties box are paid very little, relying on sponsors and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) — and even Kickstarter campaigns — for financial help.

“When you’re swimming, five, six, seven sometimes eight hours a day it has to become your job,” says Rowdy Gaines, a three-time gold-medalist swimmer who competed in the 1984 games and is now an Olympics announcer. “So you need some other outside help. Most of these athletes, not all, the Michael Phelps, the Missy Franklins, the Nathan Adrians, there are some that make a good living. But most athletes, they struggle on a day-to-day basis.”

Jason Pryor, 28, — the fencer living in Queens — is one of many elite athletes heading to the 2016 Rio Olympics. He emptied his savings to do so. “I went for broke this year. All the money I saved went into it,” he says. “It’s very tough. I live with a few friends who let me rent a bedroom.”

MarketWatch spoke with Pryor and other Olympians at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s 100 Days Out event, “Toast to Team USA,” on April 26 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The event honored Olympic sponsors and athletes.

While Olympic medal winners in Russia get luxury cars from their government, the United States Olympic Committee is the only major competing country federation that doesn't receive government funding. This separation was established in 1978 with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, which gives complete control over America’s representation in the games to the USOC and the national governing bodies for each sport under the committee. Under this legislation, the USOC has complete control over the intellectual property — giving it the exclusive distribution rights over logos and other licensing material — associated with the Olympic Games. “There’s a lot of freedom in that,” says Lisa Baird, chief marketing officer for the USOC, citing the lack of government interference that comes with independent operation. The Ted Stevens Act also requires active athletes to have 20% voting power in their respective sport’s governing board, creating an autonomous, yet democratic governing system that cannot be infringed upon by outside powers.

The USOC is a federally chartered nonprofit organization that is responsible for acquiring and allocating the necessary resources for the U.S. to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is run by a 16-member board of directors and an executive staff.

The cost of the USOC’s independence is the responsibility to raise all of the funding for athletes, training and transportation, and with the vast array of competitive sports, the money is spread thin. The primary sources of USOC funding are corporate sponsors, revenue from broadcast agreements with NBC CMCSA, -0.70% , private fundraising and grants from philanthropic foundations, Baird says. About 82% of those funds go directly to the sport governing bodies, USOC training facilities or individual athletes, while the rest goes to administrative costs, she adds.

The committee also allocates funding to the individual governing bodies based on proposals they submit.

Between 2009 and 2012, the USOC’s revenue was nearly $850 million — up from $750 million in the previous four-year period. The committee directly allocated more than $70 million to athletes, more than $145 million to national governing bodies and $75 million to the Paralympic Games, according to its four-year report.

The USOC has three training facilities across the country that are open to use by athletes and governing bodies for resident programs and camps. The governing bodies work with the USOC to select “high performance” athletes to live and train full-time at the facilities, in most cases with room and board provided. The organizations also identify athletes who can receive monthly funding of up to $2,000 to assist in training and living expenses, says Scott Blackmun, chief executive of the USOC. “For the funding plan, our mission is medals, so it’s more of a meritocracy,” Blackmun says. “Our mission is to sustain competitive action.”

Blackmun estimates that between 1,000 and 1,500 athletes receive money and additional benefits like health insurance from the USOC each year.

For athletes who don’t make the USOC funding cut, or need more help past the monthly stipend they receive, corporate sponsorship offers another way to the podium. Before 1986, athletes competing in the Olympics couldn't receive any money for their performance to preserve the “amateur” status of the games. However, the first privately financed Olympics, organized by Peter Ueberroth in Los Angeles in 1984, and the decision to allow professional athletes to compete in 1986 paved the way for athletes to receive money and other aid from corporate sponsors.

“‘84 really changed the dynamic of sponsorship for the Olympics because of Peter Ueberroth, and that was the first games that brought in those partnerships,” says Gaines. “If I would have had that, I think I could have continued my career longer.”

To prepare for the 1984 games, Gaines says he worked the night shift as a clerk at a hotel, trained in the morning, slept during the day and trained again in the evening, all the while living off “macaroni and cheese and pancakes [where you] just add water,” he says.

Having a ‘story’ is important

Though athletes like Pryor still struggle to finance their training, sponsorships can provide a lifeline and a steppingstone to future revenue sources — but only if you have a story to tell. “That’s what NBC wants, they want people to sit down and tell their stories,” says Dan O’Brien, who won the gold medal in the decathlon in 1996, and scored endorsement deals from brands like Nike NKE, -1.46% , Foot Locker FL, -0.44% and Versace throughout his career. O’Brien cites runner Lolo Jones, who ended up finishing fourth in the 100 meter hurdles at the 2012 Olympics, but became a fan favorite after telling her story about being homeless in her childhood. Jones won endorsement deals from companies such as McDonald’s MCD, -1.03% and Asics after her 2012 appearance.

“She told her story,” O’Brien says. “And that kind of stuff, from a financial standpoint, that pays off.”

Monica Aksamit, 26, has spent the last four years training to compete in Rio. Getty Images

Other ways athletes get paid

Winning medals pays off, too — the USOC pays athletes $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Along with financial help, sponsors help athletes with jobs and school. The USOC signed on Dick’s Sporting Goods DKS, -0.20% as a sponsor about two years ago, creating a program that allows 200 training athletes to work in their stores while they prepare for the games. Pryor is one of those new employees. “They’re mad flexible for the athletes,” he says.

Another partnership deal with DeVry University — inked in 2011 — grants scholarships to athletes, allowing them to take classes online while they’re on the road for competitions.

Athletes also raise money from their communities — and strangers. O’Brien says donations from his hometown allowed him to get to his first world championships, while Pryor raised money through crowdfunding campaigns and local churches. Monica Aksamit, a fellow fencer for the 2016 games, raised $14,000 from a fundraiser to get her through the year of training. “I’m still funding myself to go to practice, even though I’m going to the Olympics,” Aksamit, 26, says. “It’s definitely a struggle.”

After the closing ceremony

After pouring thousands of dollars and hours into training before the games, there is a “what now?” moment for many athletes when they return to their hometowns. “You spend all your time training and then that dream is gone,” O’Brien says. “Some people have plans in place. I got done and the thing that I had to think of is what do I want to do?”

While endorsement deals can provide money in the short term, it can run out quickly if it isn’t saved or invested. Gaines says he earned about $160,000 from public speaking and other appearances after his 1984 success and was able to live off the money for four years, retiring in Los Angeles. “Fortunately, I was able to build kind of a brand,” he says. Since then, Gaines has made a living from speaking engagements and announcing at the Olympics — 2016 will be the seventh games he’s called.

Sponsorship deals can last even longer if they’re managed well, O’Brien says. He says his biggest regret during his athletic career was turning down stock options in Nike. “I didn’t prepare for the future,” O’Brien says. “I just didn’t make any investments in my future. I just trained and everything was about winning the gold medal.”

The individual sports governing bodies also have mentorship programs that match athletes up with business professionals to jump-start a career path, O’Brien says. Many athletes end up staying within their sport, coaching and mentoring younger competitors, he adds.

However, some 2016 athletes aren’t quite ready to give up on the dream of continuing to compete and enter the real world. “I don’t see it as something I want to stop doing, it’s been 16 years of my life and I couldn’t imagine my life without it,” Aksamit says. “Obviously funding is a big, big part of it. If that doesn’t happen, then I’ll go to graduate school.”