Meet the billionaires' kids competing in the 2024 Olympics - 2 minutes read
Qualifying for the Olympics takes discipline, talent, years of training and a commitment to excellence. In some cases, a trust fund also seems to help.
A couple children of billionaires are competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The two — as well as at least one billionaire son-in-law — are representing countries in notably bougie sports realms.
Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula are both competing in tennis representing Team USA, while Nayel Nassar, Bill Gates' son-in-law, is competing as an equestrian for Team Egypt.
Twenty-three-year-old Navarro, whose father, Ben Navarro, is worth $1.5 billion, made headlines earlier this year when she reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals after beating Coco Gauff, the world's No. 2 player.
Navarro grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, where her investor father has spent more than $350 million, according to Forbes, scooping up real estate. He's also shelled out to support his daughter's passion. In 2022, his Beemok Capital acquired Cincinnati's Western and Southern Open, the country's third-biggest tournament.
Pegula, who was once ranked No. 3 in the world, is meanwhile headed to her second Olympics, having competed in the postponed 2020 Games. The 30-year-old is entering the games just months after winning the Berlin Ladies Open.
Her father, Terrence Pegula, is worth $6.8 billion, according to Forbes, and is no stranger to sports. After making money in oil and gas, he bought the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and the NFL's Buffalo Bills, purchasing the latter for $1.4 billion in 2014.
The husband of Jennifer Gates Nassar — Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' eldest daughter — is competing in his second Olympics after placing 24th in equestrian jumping in the 2020 Games. With Gates Nassar, he runs a collection of training facilities, Evergate Stables, headquartered in the equestrian hot spot Wellington, Florida.
Equestrian sports have long been popular for the wealthy — with top horses costing millions and maintaining them costing hundreds of thousands more each year. Anna Kasprzak, a Danish heiress of a billion-dollar fortune, placed 14th in the 2016 Olympics. Other billionaire offspring such as Eve Jobs, Gates Nassar, and Georgina Bloomberg have all competed seriously in the sport.
And there's set to be at least one self-made billionaire taking center court: LeBron James, who's worth $1.2 billion, according to Forbes, making him the richest competitor — at least for now.
Source: Business Insider
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