YAHOO! (USA), NEW ZEALAND HERALD (NZ), THE AUSTRALIAN (AUS)
LONDON – New Zealand taekwondo athlete Logan Campbell has rejected being labeled “a pimp” after it was known he had financed his dream to take part in the London Olympics by running a brothel.
The Kiwi athlete came under fire for opening a 14-room brothel in Auckland to raise $200,000 to participate in the London Olympics.
“It’s a legal business in New Zealand. It’s completely different from other countries in the world. No one was forced into the industry, and they’re not doing it because they are in poverty because we have a really good welfare system”, Campbell told Yahoo!.
New Zealand decriminalized prostitution in 2003, allowing brothels and street workers to operate legally under strict conditions, including no sex workers aged under 18 and safe sex at all times, explains The Australian.
When he started his business in 2009, Taekwondo New Zealand told him it would reduce his chance of being selected for the games. The New Zealand Olympic Committee also wrote to him to ask him to stop linking prostitution to funding an Olympics journey or they would sue, reports the New Zealand Herald.
Luckily for him, soon after receiving the letter, cash started to flow in and Campbell sold the brothel to focus on taekwondo. This spring, New Zealand selected the 26-year-old athlete for the London Olympics.
“We sent our applications in, they approved us all, and then they just rung us up and said ‘congratulations, you guys have made the Olympics'” the athlete told the New Zealand Herald.
Campbell will represent New Zealand in the men’s under-68kg taekwondo competition starting next week in London.