Content Warning: The following article contains some adult themes
Image credit: Art of Rowing @artofrowing.nz
After some small connectivity issues, Robbie’s voice clearly emanates from my phone. He and his Rowing New Zealand teammates are currently training in Europe between World Cup III and the upcoming World Championships in September. His voice is clear, calm and has the quiet assurance I’ve come to notice is shared by seasoned elite rowers.
Robbie retired in 2020, after a 15-year long career, when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed. His impressive career includes a World’s Best Time in the men’s single sculls in 2017, a record that still holds, as well as competing at both the London and Rio Olympics. It is no small thing to leave an international rowing programme only to decide to come back three years later.
Robbie Manson“I never had any intention of coming back”
It’s clear that when Robbie left, he really did think that was the end of his international rowing career. The question is, why leave? “I had been rowing for so long, ever since I left school, it was all I’d done.” Robbie cites burn out as the reason for his departure and a struggle to separate his personal value from his results.
Robbie Manson“I put so much of my self worth in my results and stepping away has helped me to keep the two separate. I am not my results. There’s a lot of different parts that make up who I am.”
Considering he still holds a World Best Time, it might be hard to see how he could be dissatisfied with his results. However, you don’t become the best in the world by settling. Like most rowers, and certainly all elite athletes, Robbie holds himself to the highest standard. It is also true that when your daily life revolves around one thing, one purpose, it becomes incredibly difficult not to be wholly consumed by it. I can barely imagine what it must have been like to spend over a decade training for three Olympics, to put yourself under that constant mental and physical pressure.
Robbie didn’t leave rowing behind entirely though, which is perhaps understandable when you consider that he comes from a successful rowing family. His father, Greg, was the New Zealand national champion in the men’s lightweight singles in 1985 and his brother, Karl, raced with him at an international level in 2014 as well as competing internationally in the New Zealand men’s quad in 2013 and 2015. So, though he no longer competed internationally, Robbie stayed within the sport, coaching Masters rowing.
His plan was just to enjoy rowing, which he feels he has done, and remains an attitude he has taken in to this second stint of his international career. As he was already coaching Masters and keeping fit in the gym, Robbie and his brother decided to race together in the Masters nationals as a way to keep each other accountable for their fitness. Seeing as he would already be at the event to coach, what difference would a little racing make? All the difference in the world, it turns out.
“I’m still at an age where I can do this, but I won’t be forever,” reflected Robbie on his decision to return to the international stage.
Robbie Manson“I appreciate a lot more that it’s not something you can do forever and I’m trying to enjoy it a lot more. The pressure of competition is really stressful, but it’s also exciting and a privilege.”
Re-framing the pressure has helped him to enjoy his experience a lot more than pre-retirement, and it’s no easy attitude shift to pull off. He also says that he enjoys and appreciates being part of a team of highly motivated people who are really good at what they do.
Coming back to international rowing isn’t the only big decision Robbie has made lately. Two months ago, Manson created his own OnlyFans page.
Robbie Manson“I feel like OnlyFans was something that like, with friends and stuff, we’d joke about. Everyone kind of thinks it’s an easy way to make money. It’s not as easy or as lucrative as people might think.”
Whilst working on his business plan for his small online coaching programme, he realised that he didn’t have room for any more clients due to his rowing schedule. So, he thought it would be interesting to plug in the numbers for an OnlyFans. “The results were just ridiculous,” he commented. “I think my initial estimates were probably way over the top, but that just sparked the thought of maybe I can make it work.”
Robbie credits the example of Matthew Mitcham, a retired Australian diver and Olympic champion, who, like Robbie, also happens to be openly gay. After seeing some articles about Mitcham’s OnlyFans and noting the fact that he wasn’t creating fully explicit content, Robbie thought, “that’s really clever, I think I could try and do that too.”
After debating what to do for a little while – such a decision naturally requires a lot of consideration – Robbie decided to take the plunge. On something of a whim, he wrote up a blurb about his decision and posted it on Instagram.
Robbie Manson“I was so nervous to post it because I wasn’t sure what the reaction was going to be. I’m sure there have been negative responses but I haven’t heard much or any of it.”
Robbie has no regrets about his decision. So far, it’s worked and is going financially well. Money is, ultimately, a big part of it. Having never capitalised on the public profile he has as a result of rowing, Robbie decided to change that. Though New Zealand has one of the best funded rowing teams worldwide, according to Manson, the athletes are paid less than the minimum wage for a full-time job.
“It’s not really enough to live on, you have to have something else such as sponsorships or a side hustle,” he explained. “That was one of the things that put pressure on before I retired. I was really struggling to live or save. Thoughts of buying a house or living comfortably were non existent.”
In fact, when he retired from the national team in 2020, Robbie was lucky to find a job the next day and start work a week later. He claims that had this not happened, within two weeks, he would have “completely run out of money”. The combination of his online coaching business and OnlyFans means he is not only setting himself up to be a bit more comfortable now, but also has something to set aside when he does retire again in the future.
Robbie Manson“It’s a laugh and that’s the whole thing with it, to not take it seriously and just have fun with it.”
It isn’t all about money for Robbie. Though the money is what makes it viable, having fun and showcasing another element to his personality is the personal motivator. He even gets some of his teammates in on the fun.
“We went to Bellagio at the weekend, and I’ve got a few friends on the team who are photographers, and it’s a bit of a joke – everyone’s laughing, but it also creates content” he said.
Robbie is no stranger to forging his own path, and he’s not overly concerned with people’s perception of his latest venture. He is clearly secure in his own motivations for it and happy in his decisions, saying that even if he didn’t make any more money than he has already, it would still be worth it.
Robbie Manson“When I came out publicly nine years ago, I didn’t just want to be the gay athlete,” he explained. “I wanted to be recognised for what I’d achieved, but I’m very proudly open about it. I just wanted that to be another part of myself, and the OnlyFans is similar. It’s just another thing that I do, another part of myself.”
Rowing demands a lot from a person, particularly to achieve Manson’s level of success. It has a magical ability to consume our lives, perhaps because repeatedly getting up at the crack of dawn to pull a stick through the water for hours requires singular intent. How many of us have been teased by non-rowing friends and family ‘rowing is your personality’? That is precisely why Manson’s ability to unapologetically forge his own identity within the sport is so admirable.
Robbie has learnt the necessity of separating his personal value from rowing the hard way, facing burn out and temporarily leaving international competition. Nevertheless, he is clearly a man who refuses to be put in one box, a man determined to show the many facets of himself. He sees no reason why he cannot be both a serious and incredibly successful athlete, and someone who has fun channeling their creative instincts through mostly-naked-but-not-explicit photos on OnlyFans.
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