After American swimmer Cody Miller recently Tweeted that he received a three-years-past-due ‘solidarity’ payment from the dormant International Swimming League, members from other league teams reached out to SwimSwam to tell them that they were still owed lots of money by the league – including prize money.
“None of the athletes from Team Iron have received any money from ISL” from the 2021 season, Finnish swimmer Ida Hulkko told SwimSwam. “Not the first half of the solidarity payment nor anything else after that. Other teams and athletes received their first 4500$ of the solidarity payment already during 2022. This was even before the war in Ukraine started and the finances were frozen. Team Iron amongst a few other teams was left unpaid and after, no money was being given out until now.”
Hulkko says that includes prize money.
“We are relieved to hear that money is finally being paid to the athletes but of course we see great injustice in the order and the priority of how the payments have been made,” she continued. “The athletes are only hoping to shed some light of the situation and for a quick resolution of these issues.”
Other members of Team Iron echoed that they had not received either prize money or the $7,500 solidarity payment. Austria’s Bernard Reitshamer said that “They basically always tell us, as soon as they have funds available, they’ll pay. Other teams have already gotten the first payment in 2022 and will now get a second payment.
“It’s always us reaching out and getting told, they working on solving that issue.”
When asked if he would do ISL again if it did revive (there have always been whispers that there might be interest in restarting the league), Reitshamer was unsure.
“I couldn’t tell you right now. It was an amazing time, probably the best I had. But the money was also promised, and for some it’s a years salary or more.”
Another Iron athlete told SwimSwam that they have received no communications since 2021. SwimSwam has not heard from every member of the Iron team, but at least four all concurred that amid ongoing conversations among members of the team, as far as they were aware, none had been paid.
Iron athletes earned the 6th-most prize money out of the 10 teams in the league in 2021 by SwimSwam’s calculations. While the league never released exactly how much money athletes were owed, based on our calculations (which interprets how the team bonuses are shared), Iron swimmers were owed $552,000 for the 2021 season, plus the solidarity payments.
While SwimSwam didn’t receive a response from swimmers on the New York Breakers, members of the Iron team told us that those athletes are also be awaiting payments.
The league repeatedly had issues with making payments on time, a problem that was exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The solidarity payments were supposed to begin in October 2021.
The league’s financial backer Konstantin Grigorishin was born in the USSR and acquired Ukrainian citizenship in 2016. Most of the billionaire’s business holdings are located in Ukraine, and he has also made money via the import of energy and natural resources from Russia. In 2018, he was one of 322 Ukrainian citizens that the Russian Federation imposed sanctions against.
At least one of Grigorishin’s companies was seized by the Ukrainian government as a “strategically important enterprise,” a move that the government said was made “in connection with military necessity.”
Earlier this year, one swimmer told SwimSwam that they received a text message from ISL commissioner Ben Allen that the Tokyo Frog Kings’ solidarity payment had been sent to the team and that a plan was in place to make remaining payments. That swimmer, who is on another team, said at the time that they still had not been paid.
The invasion of Ukraine also cancelled the planned 4th season of the ISL, which was initially postponed to 2023. While people close to the league say that organizers have not given up hope of a revival, the league office has been quiet for several years and most of the teams’ prior general managers have moved on to other enterprises.
Athletes mulled a league boycott over non-payment in the 2021 season. Jean-François Salessy, the ex-general manager of the Energy Standard team, and Hubert Montcoudiol, the ex-commercial director of the International Swimming League, accused ISL of financial mismanagement in a letter sent to SwimSwam in September 2021. Salessy and Montcoudiol wrote that ISL has allegedly neglected to properly pay supporting vendors and people, like press officials, webmasters, team managers, and even some elite swimmers. Salessy and Montcoudiol did not name anyone specifically that has been victim to the alleged practices, but they wrote that what they have witnessed directly contradicts ISL’s promise to honor all obligations to suppliers ahead of season three.
The league also released a statement in 2020 that it has faced financial challenges, but that it wanted to move on despite said challenges. At that time, SwimSwam reported that multiple season one vendors hadn’t been paid their full amount owed, but the league vowed to pay all money owed before Season 3. The league also added that it was working for the greater good of the sport.
Energy Standard won the titles in the 8-team league in 2019 and 2021, while the Caeleb Dressel-led Cali Condors won the 2020 season.
Team Iron is co-owned by swimming superstar Katinka Hosszu. Other big names on the team in 2021 included Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who finished the season ranked 13th in prize money.
2021 Prize Money Earned by Team Iron Athletes
Unofficial, calculated by SwimSwam according to the league rules.
| rank | name | team | points | indiv | relay | skins | mvp | team_bonus | total | stolen |
| 13 | KROMOWIDJOJO Ranomi | IRO | 285 | $34,000 | $8,750 | $23,000 | $8,000 | $1,800 | $75,550 | $200 |
| 31 | GLINTA Robert | IRO | 224.5 | $24,000 | $6,400 | $18,000 | $ – | $1,800 | $50,200 | $100 |
| 32 | de BOER Thom | IRO | 164.8 | $9,950 | $3,325 | $34,800 | $ – | $1,800 | $49,875 | $175 |
| 36 | SEEMANOVA Barbora | IRO | 245.5 | $37,700 | $7,125 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $46,625 | $175 |
| 48 | SANTOS Nicholas | IRO | 211 | $25,700 | $2,050 | $6,600 | $ – | $1,800 | $36,150 | $1,300 |
| 70 | ORSI Marco | IRO | 123.5 | $17,400 | $2,025 | $5,000 | $ – | $1,800 | $26,225 | -$225 |
| 84 | HULKKO Ida | IRO | 130 | $13,150 | $3,250 | $5,600 | $ – | $1,800 | $23,800 | -$50 |
| 98 | PERSSON Erik | IRO | 137.5 | $19,950 | $400 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $22,150 | -$150 |
| 122 | SANTOS Leonardo | IRO | 126.5 | $16,200 | $250 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $18,250 | -$150 |
| 135 | THOMAS Alys | IRO | 85 | $12,350 | $2,450 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $16,600 | -$50 |
| 137 | MELO Luiz Altamir | IRO | 115.5 | $14,400 | $25 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $16,225 | -$25 |
| 138 | MORA Lorenzo | IRO | 102.5 | $12,750 | $1,525 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $16,075 | -$175 |
| 145 | REITSHAMMER Bernhard | IRO | 137.5 | $8,850 | $4,900 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $15,550 | -$150 |
| 154 | HENIQUE Melanie | IRO | 90.8 | $8,700 | $ – | $4,300 | $ – | $1,600 | $14,600 | -$500 |
| 159 | UGOLKOVA Maria | IRO | 122 | $11,650 | $475 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $13,925 | -$75 |
| 166 | BASSETO Guilherme | IRO | 76 | $8,400 | $1,325 | $1,400 | $ – | $1,800 | $12,925 | -$25 |
| 174 | BECKMANN Emilie | IRO | 65 | $2,700 | $5,950 | $1,600 | $ – | $1,800 | $12,050 | $ – |
| 178 | LOYNING Ingeborg | IRO | 70 | $7,600 | $3,050 | $ – | $ – | $1,200 | $11,850 | -$100 |
| 179 | COCCONCELLI Costanza | IRO | 94 | $5,900 | $4,050 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $11,750 | $ – |
| 185 | STRAUCH Jenna | IRO | 80.2 | $7,000 | $425 | $1,400 | $ – | $1,800 | $10,625 | -$325 |
| 218 | ANDRUSENKO Veronika | IRO | 51 | $3,500 | $2,600 | $ – | $ – | $1,200 | $7,300 | -$200 |
| 223 | RICHARDS Matt | IRO | 64 | $3,100 | $2,600 | $ – | $ – | $1,200 | $6,900 | $ – |
| 223 | LOBANOVSZKIJ Maxim | IRO | 35.5 | $1,400 | $2,100 | $1,600 | $ – | $1,800 | $6,900 | $ – |
| 230 | VEKOVISHCHEV Mikhail | IRO | 56.5 | $2,200 | $2,025 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $6,025 | -$225 |
| 238 | STRELNIKOV Kirill | IRO | 29.5 | $3,000 | $1,650 | $ – | $ – | $1,000 | $5,650 | $ – |
| 239 | ZAMORANO Africa | IRO | 54 | $4,250 | $ – | $ – | $ – | $1,200 | $5,450 | -$250 |
| 244 | SAKCI Emre | IRO | 24 | $3,800 | $900 | $ – | $ – | $200 | $4,900 | -$200 |
| 264 | SCALIA Silvia | IRO | 31.5 | $550 | $550 | $800 | $ – | $1,800 | $3,700 | -$200 |
| 273 | HILL Danielle | IRO | 11.5 | $50 | $1,325 | $ – | $ – | $1,800 | $3,175 | -$75 |
| 297 | FANZ Casey | IRO | 1 | $ – | $400 | $ – | $ – | $600 | $1,000 | $ – |
This is such a black eye for the progress of televised/professional swimming outside of the Olympics. This type of payment promises after production is rampant in the television industry and the producers all walked away with money from a tv deal, while leaving the workers dry.
Anyone who is owed any money should be taking legal action.
ISL has a lot bigger bigger black eyes than not paying one swimmer!
We can tell reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit