No, they are not paid. They profit from endorsements from companies like Speedo and Nike. I understand that some countries do pay competitors that place.
5687
Moldova participated with 31 competitors to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
There were over 10,000 competitors.
433 competitors
No one 'wins' the Olympics. There are dozens of different events that competitors participate in and each individual event has a winner.
Yes. Liechtenstein enters competitors in alpine skiing events in the Winter Olympics. Liechtenstein also had a representative in the Marathon and in Shooting at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
No, the Olympics used to be a solely amateur competition when it very first started however now it is open to both professional and amateur competitors. The USA basketball team has competed at the Olympics and you can't get much higher paid than some of them.
The Judges selected the competitors
Great Britain sent a team of 312 athletes to compete at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
China and the United States have the largest teams, with 639 and 647 competitors respectively.
There are a total of 380 competitors in 23 sports competing for China at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
In the Ancient Olympics the competitors were nude.