Highest-Paid Athletes of All Time

Sports is considered an entertainment that has been going on since the medieval ages and the person who might be the crown richest athlete of all time still lingers in the mind of most enthusiasts. You might want to check my previous post on Top 10 Richest Sportsman in the World 2020.

But pretty much none of them can be compared to the same level as the highest-paid athletes of all time.

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Gaius Appuleius Diocles

Gauis Appuleius Diocles is a chariot racer back in Roman times where at that time he was considered the idol among all athletes in the history of ancient sports.

At the time of his retirement when he was 42 years old, his estimated net worth was 35,863,120 sesterces which if it was converted today, Gaius Appuleius Diocles' net worth will be $15 billion.

With that huge amount of money, he can manage to feed the whole city of Rome for 1 year or even support the whole army of Rome for a few months.

At the time, Gaius Diocles wasn't the best chariot racer since he only won one-third of the whole racing tournament. However, he is among the favorites simply because of the unique way he raced and people call him the "Master of Drama".

One of his signature moves will be when he starts the last place at the beginning and sprints at the very last round of the match. This made the audience really excited and hyped about it.

The other reason why Gaius Diocles managed to accumulate such wealth is that he has been so lucky not to die. The chariot race is a very dangerous sport and many of them died at a very young age.

The career of Gaius Diocles

Gauis Diocles was born in a middle-class family somewhere in 104 AD in Lusitania which is located in Portugal now. He started racing when he was just a teenager and the area where he lived was rather well-known as the place to breed the best horse for chariot racing.

After years of practice and perfection in racing in Spain, he was called to go to Rome. This is the time when his skills were seen by the audience in the Circus Maximus arena.

Circus Maximus is one of the arenas for chariot racing that can hold a capacity of up to 250,000 people. It was considered the biggest racing arena ever built in Rome. 

Rome has four racing teams divided into; white, red, blue, and green. Each team will have up to 3 chariot racers in each race. It is similar up until today when the citizens of Rome will have their own team to support and will become their die-hard fans. 

In every race, each team will invest a sum of money into their horse as well as good equipment to ensure that they win. This is where the racers will get the money required from winning the race and donations from their supporters.

In the beginning, Gaius Diocles started out from the White team which is known for those to be at a low level. Despite that, due to his talents and skills, he managed to be on the green team when he was only 24 years old.

When he was 27 years old, Gaius Diocles made another surprising move when he switched to the green team which at the time was considered the fans favorite. Some people might ask why he would make such a move? Well, it was simple! He's after fame, glory, and wealth.

If he stayed on the green team, Gaius Diocles would have been one of the best racers on the team. But if he moved to the red team, Gaius Diocles will stand as the biggest player in the red team. That will simply mean more money for him.

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He took part in 4257 races and out of all the competitions he has been in, Gaius Diocles has won 1462 matches in first place, 861 matches in second, and 576 in third.

After he decided to retire at the age of 42, he bought a piece of land in the countryside of Italy at Praeneste(now known as Palestrina)

The Chariot Race in the Modern era of Rome

The chariot is powered either by two or 4 horses and they can be very light. That's also the reason why some of them ended up falling to the ground.  It requires high skills in order for someone to balance their chariot and prevent it from falling.

There's also not much rule when it comes to chariot racing and some of them can do all the dirty tricks that you can think of in order to win the race. For instance, when you crash your opponents to the walls of the area. The risks of either being trapped underneath the chariot as well as being dragged across the arena are some of the common things to happen.

The race in the Circus Maximus consists of 7 rounds in which each round is 4000 meters long. The race usually lasts for about 10 minutes and there are around 66 days of races each year. The emperor bet a lot of his money into the races and it has been one of his favorite activities.

The rope of the charioteer is wrapped around each racer which enables them to control the chariot. In case things go south, they can simply cut the rope with a knife in order to save themselves.

We can even see today that professional athletes have cash in big bucks playing what they are best at and this also include e-Sports where some of them make millions of dollars each year. It has happened a long time ago when the Romans have already cashed in huge amounts of money by becoming professional athletes.

The ways to make money from being an athlete nowadays are limitless as there are opportunities that can be grabbed all year round. 

Do you think you have what it takes to become the best athlete out there? 

Source: ThePatriots

Also read: Jay-Z, First Rapper to Become a Billionaire