Three months before Sarah Mitton earned a medal at the World Athletics Championships, in 2023, she was explaining her financial challenges on YouTube. The 27-year-old grew up in a tiny town in Nova Scotia and was traveling the world to compete in shotput. “Our travel expenses are very, very high,” she said. “Women’s shotput is a little under-represented on the sponsorship side, so I’ve been struggling in other ways to find ways to make up the difference.” Mitton is in Paris for the 2024 Olympics, competing alongside dozens – maybe hundreds – of Canadian athletes who also struggle financially. Here, reporter Catherine Morrison explores how Canada funds its athletes, and how that funding can fall so short.