NPR. This is the indicator for Planet Money. I'm Adrian Ma.

And I'm Whelan Wong. We are still in the thick of Olympic season.

The pairs 2024 Paralympic Games kicked off this week and the athletes that competed at the Olympics

earlier this summer are back home now. Maybe taking a victory lap.

Or victory nap? That's what I would do. I would get a gold medal in napping.

Some of these athletes are entering or returning to college in the US,

maybe with a higher profile post-Olympics.

Now in a previous era, these college Olympians wouldn't be able to capitalize on their

fame by say signing endorsement deals with companies. But college athletes can do this

today. That's because back in 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association

loosened its rules around how athletes are allowed to make money off their image.

This is a big boon for students like Frederick Richard.

He's a gymnast at the University of Michigan,

and he was part of the US men's gymnastics team

that won a bronze medal in Paris.

Oh, he also has almost 850,000 followers on Tik-talk.

You know, the Tik-talk world, the social media world, it's like,

wow, you can reach new people that have never seen your face.

The NCAA rule changes opened up a whole... face.

The NCAA rule changes opened up a whole new level of economic opportunity for athletes like

Frederick.

Today on the show, we look at how the Paris Olympics have boosted the earning potential for college athletes,

...