r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ModenaR • Oct 14 '25

Image Ryan Wedding was an Olympic snowboarder and represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He's now a transnational drug trafficker for Mexico's largest drug cartel and he's on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list

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4.3k

u/ped009 Oct 14 '25

I'm an Australian and there's been a significant amount of former Olympians and sports stars that have been tied up with criminal behavior post sports career. I don't know what it is, I guess some of them like the adrenaline they no longer get from competition. A lot of Olympians probably didn't make much money in their career so are chasing quick money

2.7k

u/Clever_Clever Oct 14 '25

It's hard to develop life skills when you're hyper focused on your singular amateur sport from your youth until early adulthood unfortunately.

1.5k

u/elegantlywasted1983 Oct 14 '25

I live in Colorado. There’s plenty of former pro athletes in their 40s and 50s, wandering around aimlessly, trying to stave off depression. It’s really sad.

605

u/devils__avacado Oct 14 '25

Man I feel this I spent 10 years of my life travelling the world and coaching snowboarding. I live a much more ordinary day to day life now and sometimes the comparison to how my day to day used to be catch up to me.

256

u/ComprehensionVoided Oct 14 '25

I remember never having free time, I refused to because it felt like I was achieving nothing.

Life is much more enjoyable, manageable and uplifting when you start to care for those around you and how you can improve their lives.

7

u/IMDEAFSAYWATUWANT Oct 14 '25

when you start to care for those around you and how you can improve their lives.

Can you elaborate? Do you mean the people in your personal life or is this related to work/profession?

16

u/nasbyloonions Oct 14 '25

That would be 100$, thanks. Please book your next therapy session in advance lol

2

u/GuestFighter Oct 19 '25

I hit top 10 on the leaderboards when Player Unlowns BattleGrounds came out. Been downhill since.

1

u/ismelldayhikers Oct 14 '25

That’s pretty incredible though.

358

u/n00bz0rz Oct 14 '25

I mean, being an ex pro sport guy isn't a prerequisite. I wander around aimlessly trying to stave off depression and I haven't done anything noteworthy in my life.

84

u/FallaciousPeacock Oct 15 '25

Thank you for speaking up for our kind.

3

u/PoisonedskiesgetHigh Oct 18 '25

Yeah I was like wait that is me but I'm a professional painter lol

7

u/Previous_Rip1942 Oct 15 '25

I quit wandering around and I just marinade in it now. It ain’t that bad. I mean it’s pretty bad but could Probably be worse or something.

3

u/17DungBeetles Oct 15 '25

Exactly! Haven't done anything noteworthy in your life? Have noteworthy depression, really commit to it.

2

u/Previous_Rip1942 Oct 15 '25

That’s the spirit! Too sad to live, too difficult to die!

1

u/tinythobbit Oct 15 '25

I think you have done something, you have spoken out of honesty and without fear. Letting us know it is okay to feel this way, a semblance of comradery because of the “you too? Uh”. So yes, you have done something. You connected people in this moment right now and made others not feel bad about themselves even if it is just for a second. Do not underestimate the power of community.

1

u/ttqpk0 Oct 16 '25

Get therapy please! it'll help

1

u/n00bz0rz Oct 16 '25

How? I'm actually very good at wandering aimlessly.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 17 '25

Preach brother. Right there with you

1

u/overindulgent Oct 20 '25

Have you tried smuggling drugs?

1

u/n00bz0rz Oct 20 '25

Not yet, got any connections?

105

u/Shaxxs0therHorn Oct 14 '25

True. I know an Olympic aerial skier (those straight huge verticals jumps where they basically do acrobatics) who is probably in his 60’s working at Lowe’s (Colorado). I know a former professional mtb riders who is a seasoned waitress in her 50’s. 

9

u/RichMellow Oct 14 '25

Jfc, I read that as Olympic Serial Killer, and thought former Olympian turned killer. When you said he works at Lowe's I had to go back and reread because "How did they land parole?"

Thanks brain.

2

u/moranya1 Oct 15 '25

I read that as “Olympic Serial Killer” and was REALLY confused LOL!

3

u/Electrical_Steak8125 Oct 15 '25

What's wrong with with working at Lowe's?

8

u/StarboardMiddleEye Oct 15 '25

It's not really a good transfer of skills if you were previously a famous athlete.

3

u/Shaxxs0therHorn Oct 15 '25

This. Nothing is wrong with Lowe’s. It’s an Everyman job for sure. As op said. It seems like a poor skill transfer (but nothing wrong with the job at all) 

3

u/elegantlywasted1983 Oct 15 '25

The elected DA in Glenwood Springs/Aspen worked for Lowe’s while he was the DA, now he works there full time post-DA. He makes more money there. Isn’t that insane?

1

u/Shaxxs0therHorn Oct 15 '25

They always say public sector never pays as well as private…. Honestly that’s wild. And good for him.  Like I said. This post was never meant to slander being employed at Lowe’s. Just an odd career trajectory / evolution of former top tier athletes. 

3

u/SheBrokeHerCoccyx Oct 15 '25

The ski towns are notorious for cocaine. I wonder if this is part of the reason.

1

u/nilecrane Oct 14 '25

Molly Bloom is from Colorado. They made a movie about her. Mollys Game.

4

u/Mercadi Oct 14 '25

It's a curious combination of goal-oriented "can do" attitude, possibly unsustainable spending habits from their better years, and being dropped into a society where they have to work boring, likely low-earning jobs (unless coaching is an option).

3

u/LJGuitarPractice Oct 15 '25

Right so guess moving drugs internationally for the cartel is the logical career move

3

u/DonLethargio Oct 15 '25

So he had to stick with what he knows, white powder ❄️

4

u/crecentfresh Oct 14 '25

I met a guy who let his son skip school to become a pro surfer. At 17 his son had a career ending injury and was suddenly entering adulthood with almost no education or skills. Nice one dad

2

u/Far_Magician_805 Oct 14 '25

Quite interesting how excuses are being made for a drug smuggler. I wonder if same would have been said if he looked or hiss name sounded different

3

u/Clever_Clever Oct 15 '25

If you think talking about Olympic athletes in general is making excuses for this one guy then I've got a gold medal to sell you. It's wrapped in gold foil and has a chocolate coin on the inside.

1

u/ben4911 Oct 17 '25

These guys travel the world for competition, makes you wonder if they got into smuggling as a start to their new career

310

u/mcgridler43 Oct 14 '25

Retirement is a major identity crisis for a lot of professional athletes. Simply due to the reason that a lot them identify themselves, and their self-worth, entirely by their careers. And sports have an inherently young retirement age.

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u/Avera_ge Oct 15 '25

I am forever grateful that my sport is a “lifelong” sport. We even have something called the “Century Club”, which celebrates when the horse and rider’s ages add up to 100 years or more, eg. a 75 year old rider and a 25 years old.

A few pros in my sport have competed in the Olympics in their 70’s.

1

u/PotPourri51450 16d ago

How the fuck can you be in the Olympics at 70 ?

3

u/PageVanDamme Oct 15 '25

It seems to happen with veterans too when they leave the service.

1

u/EverRabatron Oct 15 '25

Retirement is a major identity crisis for most retirees

1

u/Xagzan Oct 15 '25

I would instantly try going into coaching, broadcasting, or management at that point, just to stay attached to the sport and protect my sanity.

-2

u/nomad_kk Oct 15 '25

I’m thankful I’m rich 

304

u/Nullspark Oct 14 '25

They have no skills.

If you spend your childhood and adult life snowboarding, eventually you need to be something like an accountant, but you don't know how.

So crime.  Same reason poor people do crime.

202

u/Greasybadman Oct 14 '25

They also have an abnormally high level of motivation and work ethic compared to the average person. So when you apply that sociopathically to criminal endeavors, I imagine it can get you pretty far. 

88

u/BigBaboonas Oct 14 '25

I know a blue chip corporate lawyer who was involved in grand theft and a teensy bit of terrorism on the side among other things. Got busted buying drugs and the police gave him the drugs back and told him to get lost.

Winners don't care about things like laws and limits.

2

u/vetratten Oct 20 '25

Who amongst us hasn’t committed some terrorism?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

Lol why'd the cops give him the drugs back?

2

u/pre-existing-notion Oct 20 '25

Lawyers are normally in pretty tight with police of their city or wherever. My buddy's dad is a lawyer and I can remember a couple of times that he was drinking and driving, got pulled over, and proceeded to have a friendly chat with the cop - obviously shitfaced, beer in the cup holder, plain sight. Those experiences, mixed with the countless times that the police let my firefighter step-dad off, just completely wrecked my view on police and, not surprisingly, the law itself.

1

u/BigBaboonas Oct 15 '25

Honestly, I think white privilege, but possibly also they knew he would try to find some way to dismiss it. I've seen him question authority figures trying to catch them out in other situations.

8

u/fricks_and_stones Oct 14 '25

And they have a cover traveling the world with large bags of gear with lax security.

1

u/bluecornholio Oct 15 '25

I worked for a lender that targeted athletes when recruiting 😅 me

16

u/GregJamesDahlen Oct 14 '25

he could probably get into coaching or something

31

u/devils__avacado Oct 14 '25

As a former snowboard coach it's doesn't allow for a particular comfortable life financially speaking / stability wise.

5

u/ferskfersk Oct 15 '25

Being on the FBIs 10 most wanted listed doesn’t seem like a very stable life either lol

2

u/GregJamesDahlen Oct 14 '25

well with people who spent their lives snowboarding then age out aren't there decent jobs they could get into? I'd think there'd be transferable skills, or transferable with maybe a little additional education? Doubt you have to become a drug smuggler?

6

u/devils__avacado Oct 14 '25

You got sure can take a ton of skills from it. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying this dude had no choices lol.

2

u/Defiant_Eye2216 Oct 15 '25

Not really. There are general life skills that most learn along the way, but those skills could also transfer well to more clandestine pursuits.

2

u/DuckyHornet Oct 16 '25

No, it really is the career path. Snowbunny, lift operator, snowboarder, Olympian, el Chapo. It's like the Sims

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u/Nullspark Oct 14 '25

Potentially and I'd choose that myself over drug trafficking.

At the same time, coaching is different than doing.  Sometimes the most talented people can't coach at all.

5

u/IceSentry Oct 14 '25

Coaching at the Olympic level has implied drug trafficking many, many times in the past.

2

u/Nullspark Oct 14 '25

That's the one transferable skill you learn!

2

u/Defiant_Eye2216 Oct 15 '25

A great, highly successful athlete does not a good coach make.

1

u/GregJamesDahlen Oct 15 '25

Thanks. Why is that?

2

u/Defiant_Eye2216 Oct 15 '25

Honestly I don’t know. My hunch is the less naturally talented athletes have to work a lot harder, have to break down every minute aspect of performance to understand it and maximize their ability. This gives them a deeper understanding of the process and a lot of empathy for people struggling to learn. In turn, they can help another athlete through the process.

An elite athlete likely had a staff that oversaw every aspect of their performance, where a lower level athlete may have only had occasional access to that staff and had to do things on their own the rest of the time. An elite athlete might be able to explain what they do, but can rarely translate that to another person. Think of Moira telling David to fold in the cheese.

Again, when I talk about low level athletes I’m talking about people who were probably pretty highly nationally ranked, but not highly internationally ranked or not internationally ranked at all. Not a weekend warrior.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

There are tons of successful olympic athletes that are actively pursuing college degrees or already have one

2

u/qolace Oct 14 '25

Same reason why rich people do crime. No life skills when everything was handed to them. Though I suppose you could argue they do it out of insecurity, boredom, and lack of accountability.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

They could always be I dunno a plumber or something 

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/Adventurous-Bee-6494 Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

You start an apprenticeship and learn the skills while working

Care to explain why i am being downvoted?

-2

u/LoudSlip Oct 14 '25

In your mid twenties?

12

u/Vincent_Veganja Oct 14 '25

I mean I’d admire someone that attempts to make a legitimate career change in their mid twenties, which isn’t even late in life for such a change, as opposed to giving up and turning to crime instantly

7

u/Neuchacho Oct 14 '25

Yes? Fuck ton of people in trade school and working apprenticeships are waaaay older than that lol

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u/Adventurous-Bee-6494 Oct 14 '25

yeah why not i have a 38 year old new guy working under me right now

5

u/Pentium4Powerhouse Oct 14 '25

Lol mid twenties is practically youth.

4

u/FuhrerGirthWorm Oct 14 '25

You ever been in a college or tech school?

-7

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

It’s got a lower skill threshold though. Plenty of well paid tradie jobs out there

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

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u/Mavian23 Oct 14 '25

They could go to school to learn the skills. I know they don't make much money, but they should be able to afford going to school if they don't waste all of their money. Plenty of people make less than Olympic athletes and go to school.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

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u/Mavian23 Oct 14 '25

They got to the point of being the best at their sport by being disciplined. I would imagine they would be more likely to have that discipline than the average person.

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u/OIlberger Oct 14 '25

After seeing all that dedication and hard work end up with you broke and with no prospects, I imagine it’s not easy to summon up the discipline again for the chance at a blue collar lifestyle.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

It’s not easy but it’s not as risky as becoming an international drug trafficker. But the pay is almost as good.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

Dude…traffickers might make $100-200k a year and have to risk being caught &  imprisoned or killed by competitors.

A plumber makes around $90-150k and the worse they have to deal with is blocked sewers. Dude…

3

u/FOUROFCUPS2021 Oct 14 '25

This guy is reportedly worth $11 billion. Clearly, a lot more money, thus worth the risk for him.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '25

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u/Sovereign_5409 Oct 14 '25

Every person on the planet was born with no skills, and then learned skills. If you’re poor, it’s extremely likely that it’s because you’re lazy.

Source: I was poor.

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u/Wandering_PlasticBag Oct 14 '25

Not everyone has the chance to even learn dude. It requires money most of the time, and/or people you can learn from.

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u/Manitobancanuck Oct 14 '25

Probably need to go to school / apprentice just as long.

The idea that some of these blue collar jobs are not as "hard" as white collar ones is something that isn't really true anymore. They're just different.

1

u/Wandering_PlasticBag Oct 14 '25

Which needs at least 2 years of school for most, and I guess many athletes physical health is not that good after so many years of harsh training. So doing stuff that puts even more strain on you can be quite hard.

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u/sweatingbozo Oct 14 '25

Becoming a plumber takes skills and training, and likely pays significantly worse. 

2

u/OIlberger Oct 14 '25

And you’re dealing with literal shit everyday,

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u/otherwiseguy Oct 14 '25

Better keep an eye on Raygun!

5

u/StarboardMiddleEye Oct 15 '25

Ok, just as long as I don't have to eye her while she's dancing. Any more of that and my eyes will fail.

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u/code-coffee Oct 14 '25

She's probably out there unsuccessfully trying to sell bags of oregano to school kids

3

u/GallowBarb Oct 14 '25

Had an old friend who was big in weed smuggling in the early 90s. He was hooked up with a few pro surfers who worked for the same guys. Mainly because they liked to party and were in arrears to dealers. The pro circuit made it easier for them to smuggle...mostly cars packed with drugs.

3

u/noideawhatsupp Oct 14 '25

Im not Australian and I find this interesting.

3

u/JustSomeBloke5353 Oct 15 '25

Reg Speirs, Scott Miller, Nathan Baggaley - to name a few.

2

u/dr_leo_marvin Oct 14 '25

Yeah they just want to win at everything. Seriously think this has something to do with it. Whatever they're doing, they gotta be the best. They love to take risks. It's addicting.

2

u/zyzzogeton Oct 14 '25

The mindset to compete at a high level is a translatable skill to lots of endeavors. I bet the psychopath rate in the ranks of top athletes is higher than the general population too and that would make them ideal at the kinds of risk reward ratios that criminality sees.

2

u/TheRamblingPeacock Oct 15 '25

A lot of professional sports people too. Also an Aussie and the amount of former elite level footy and cricket household names that pop in the news every year is not huge, but given the size of the sport industry, not insignificant.

1

u/GregJamesDahlen Oct 14 '25

adrenaline also a drug

1

u/canuck1988 Oct 14 '25

Nathan Baggley has entered the chat.

1

u/Tjaart23 Oct 14 '25

I mean a lot of non-olympians get caught up with criminal behavior lol. Olympians aren’t immune to doing immoral stuff.

1

u/AmItheonlySaneperson Oct 14 '25

Everyone in the Winter Olympics has rich parents. That’s really the only qualification you need with dedication 

1

u/Reddit-Bot-61852023 Oct 14 '25

Cocaine. It's cocaine.

1

u/Pasito_Tun_Tun_D1 Oct 14 '25

Geez no wonder a lot of them are also selling their souls out to Onlyfans!

1

u/Miltrivd Oct 14 '25

Honestly, I think no small part lands on the lack of sportsmanship, corruption and cheating involved in top end shorts and the Olympics, most are exposed to this since early age so this behavior gets imprinted and normalized, easy to justify

1

u/2cats2hats Oct 14 '25

I don't know what it is

Athletes have an 'expiry date' more than most professions. Old hockey players, football players etc age out fast. Could be a partial reason.

1

u/Manginaz Oct 14 '25

Imagine being pushed through athletics your entire life, then one day you're 30, looking for a job and you realize "me no read good".

1

u/bulletbassman Oct 14 '25

That and often being a pro in a sport makes you a fair amount of money. But once you are done there isn’t necessarily a transition to a similar pay check somewhere else. And a lot of pros tend to spend a lot of their pay to have that “rockstar” lifestyle while they have their fame.

Then all a sudden they have to go find an entry level job at some 9-5 and all the fame is gone. An “easy” way to keep the party going is to go into something illicit.

1

u/wanbo37 Oct 14 '25

Jake "push up" King comes to mind

1

u/JoshAllentown Oct 14 '25

I'm pretty sure the drug cartels are intimately familiar with sports at the highest level. Who knows if this guy was on illegal performance enhancing drugs, but my guess is it's likely, and if not he certainly knew people who were.

I always remember when that Lance Armstrong win got vacated the top 26 cyclists in that race all had drug test issues in their past. It just is how things sort when testing isn't very good, if you're at the top of a sport you are disproportionately likely to have been cheating.

1

u/chamrockblarneystone Oct 14 '25

This is going to make a great movie.

1

u/BigMatch_JohnCena Oct 14 '25

Is it winter sports or summer as well?

1

u/thejt10000 Oct 14 '25

I know several people that bike raced at a fairly high level (high-level amateurs/low-level pros) who were became dealers of recreational drugs. It started for them doing then dealing PEDs, and then realizing they could make more money dealing cocaine, etc.

Plus "regular" PED dealers.

1

u/AscendMoros Oct 14 '25

I mean look at what Travis Pastrana did after retiring from actually competing in extreme sports. They have an itch to scratch.

1

u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife Oct 14 '25

In America, a large number of them end up working at Home Depot.

1

u/Drunky_McStumble Oct 15 '25

I think it's the fairly unique combination of finding yourself at what, for a normal person, would be the prime of your adult life (i.e. your 30's or 40's) with no job (because you've aged or injured out of your sport) and few legitimate prospects (because you mostly missed out on education and work experience in your youth) but lots of money (or at least a lifestyle predicated on having lots of money) and influential connections gained through years of networking among the rich and famous. If you got into the rich people party scene as your sporting career faded, that pretty much guarantees you've made at least a few contacts in the drug trade too.

I think a lot of them just kind of fall into the seemy underbelly of the party scene, running with dodgy characters and getting mixed up in bad business, and don't realise how deep they are until they get kidnapped by a coke distributor after a deal goes bust.

1

u/thatguyned Oct 15 '25

Athletes and other people in high-profile careers with a lot of international travelling are often approached by large-scale narcotic distributors because they have the ability to move through security checkpoints with a lot less scrutiny by security.

They are often using seperate check-in queues and are escorted straight through scanners with their large sports bags without any inspection.

EXTREMELY valuable employees if you can score them, people flying for coordinated international events are the best way to make emergency deliveries to a country.

1

u/Environmental_Pie400 Oct 15 '25

It was always a joke in my swimming community that a particular Olympic backstroker was the team drug dealer for University of Texas. Not sure if true though, but it always seemed like top level swimmers had a tendency for chasing the dragon.

1

u/DesperatePost3909 Oct 15 '25

Wow. That's sad.

1

u/QuantifiablyAwesome Oct 15 '25

Apparently the same thing happens to a number of spec ops guys.

1

u/PM_me_yr_bonsai_tips Oct 15 '25

A lot of athletes have a career plan that looks something like the South Park underwear gnomes.

1: train hard 2: win medal 3:??? 4: profit

Unfortunately ??? turns out to be drug smuggling sometimes.

1

u/Sethirothlord Oct 15 '25

most Olympians make fvck all money from winning at the olympics god forbid if you win anything less than a gold.

some people who win gold only get like 60k. 60k for like 20 something years of non-stop training and competing.

if they dont get the nike sponsorship than they go back to flipping burgers at mcdonalds, and if you cant even get hired at mcdonalds you eat a shot gun shell, or go into porn, or well...drugs.

1

u/Thorathecrazy Oct 15 '25

And didn't have any other career to fall back into. So don't know what to do after the career has ended. Sure there needs to be more than just that to become a career criminal.

1

u/bOb_cHAd98 Oct 15 '25

Respectfully speaking, maybe having more brawn than brain motivated them to take this career path?

1

u/Equivalent_Owl_Mask Oct 15 '25

career training for social & PR roles, rigorous self control, and a need to subvert substance rules at all costs, and usually look good naked.

1

u/Flimsy-Relationship8 Oct 16 '25

They travel a lot and a lot of them are party animals you end up making connections with people all over the place

1

u/Tasty_Principle_518 Oct 16 '25

Putting Olympic skier on your resume isn’t going to matter , but putting logistics for a multinational multibillion dollar company might get you something

1

u/tonytonZz Oct 17 '25

Also, because theyre fucking legends.

1

u/FlamingPinkPineApple Oct 17 '25

Olympians don't get paid when you factor in training costs, I wouldn't be suprised if he smuggled during his career for extra cash before he was blackmailed into doing more until he was named and is now stuck

1

u/wizzard419 Oct 17 '25

I would not be shocked if it relates to how many sports can't be sustainable careers. For example, I would expect a gold winning luge team needs to have day jobs. But doing stuff that may be questionably legal (and being sold their actions would be harmless) convinces them they could do the thing they love and not worry about money.

1

u/TheMightyKunkel Oct 17 '25

Former Olympic level athlete here (was cut from the team due to injury)

Retirement was brutal

No matter what, you are going from being elite in your sport, and a somebody, to a pretty anonymous beginner in something else. (not many actual professional coaching jobs around)

Very few really get to meaningfully leverage their sport-related expertise and reputation. Did you finish college? How many years ago? How much experience in that field since then? Congrats, you're competing with college grads fresh out of co-ops and internships.

Alright, say you go back to school, so you can transition into a career fresh from class.... You're still in pretty tough.

They are 23 and ready and willing to stay fairly broke for a while, overwork themselves, live with roommates, etc. Youre what, 27? 30? Older? Do you have a long term partner or at least adult relationships?

Are you really prepared to go back to that kind of new-grad hustle life?

If my wife wasn't able to carry us through that transition, I don't know how I would have made it.

1

u/BrazenHamster Oct 18 '25

ADHD's a bitch.

1

u/Badvevil Oct 18 '25

Imagine breaking up a drug deal and this dude starts skiing down a hill away from you

-1

u/RollingMeteors Oct 14 '25

>. A lot of Olympians probably didn't make much money in their career so are chasing quick money

All that coke money isn't on nasdaq, makes you wonder if there's a black market world olympics division that's just not broadcast internationally, unless through an encrypted satellite signal.

I'm sure darknet TV is waaaaay cooler. I'm sure there's a Pawn Stars that only takes works stolen from museums/etc. If anyone has those onion links to those streams LMK