Romanian-Canadian Olympic speed skater Alexandra Ianculescu is using OnlyFans to assist fund her dream of competing on the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Unlike her past Olympic appearance, the 31-year-old athlete is leaving her skates behind in hopes of representing Canada as a cyclist.
But since the Canadian team is on the amateur level, it requires funding to compete on the Olympics.
Ianculescu turned to OnlyFans — a subscription-based social media platform, where users can sell and/or purchase original content.
Ianculescu, who retired from speed skating in November 2021, told the Every day Star that the cash she makes from selling bikini photos and other content on OnlyFans covers the fee of cycling and helps cover expenses.
“I made an OnlyFans account in 2021,” she said. “… It’s helping me survive, pay my rent, pay for groceries, and it covers the cycling and the coffee bills!”
Along with her transition from speed skating to cycling, Ianculescu has poured all of her time into training — and subsequently put her personal training business on the back burner.
“It’s fully 100% OnlyFans because I didn’t have the time to do personal training anymore,” she said about her source of income.
“Someone suggested, ‘Why don’t you simply have an OnlyFans account and create like a behind-the-scenes of what you do? And because you post bikini photos anyway, you’ll be able to actually charge for that.’
“I used to be like, ‘seriously, people pay for that?’ Like, I like my body. I would like to post it anyway… So I said, ‘I’ll give myself one month and see the way it goes.’ And it was crazy!”
Ianculescu is open about promoting her OnlyFans page on social media.
On Tuesday, the Olympian shared a sultry bikini selfie, and wrote on Instagram: “Is it summer yet? On my OnlyFans it definitely is.
“Just posted a never before seen photo on the wall, and about to DM the opposite side to everyone that’s on there.”
On Wednesday, Ianculescu took to Instagram gushing over a surge in traffic on her OnlyFans page.
“You guys! That is insane traffic,” she wrote over a screen grab of her analytics.
Ianculescu, who competed with Romania on the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyongyang, has her sights set on being considered one of few athletes to take part in each the winter and summer games.
“But not I’m not setting high expectations on myself because I don’t need to get disenchanted but I just know that I expect myself to only suck at something recent, which is a extremely nice feeling,” she said.
Ianculescu — who “fell in love” with cycling after trying it for the primary time in 2018 — added that her goal is to land an expert contract in the subsequent two seasons.
“I even have to trust the method,” she said. “Nevertheless it’s, I feel gonna take me longer than I believed it could. And in order that’s a bit frustrating.”
As for her future?
Ianculescu explained that she is ready for the long haul in the case of constructing her cycling profession — and doesn’t plan on settling down with a family and youngsters anytime soon.
“I do have the patience,” she said. “I do plan on doing this for a very long time.
“I don’t plan on settling and buying a house and having kids and buying dogs anytime soon. I’m gonna work my a– off until I get there.”
Ianculescu struggled in speed skating on the 2018 Games in North Korea, ending last in the ladies’s 500 meters speed event.
“I got off the ice, and I began crying,” she said. “I knew that it wasn’t the most effective I could do.”
Ianculescu told the outlet that she took a month off “completely” from training after initially being told she didn’t qualify.
“You may’t sharpen your knife last minute,” she said. “So I needed to make the most effective of it.”