Naomi Metzger Missed the Olympics by 10cm, Then Digital Art Changed Her Career

Transcript

10 cm. Just 10 cm was the difference between making the 2021 Olympics. I missed the games and I lost my sponsor. However, through this disappointment, I discovered the world of crypto and blockchain technology, which allowed me to self-fund my athletics and decentralize my sporting journey. More than a third of elite British sports women have said that they've considered giving up sport because of the cost. And I nearly gave up for the same reason until I came across a Tik Tok video about NFTTS and I ended up funding myself through blockchain tools. My name is Naomi Meza and I am a professional triple jumper, 11 times British champion, Commonwealth bronze medalist

and video creator. For those who don't know, triple jump is a track and field event where you hop, step, and jump into a sand pit. And the competitor with the best distance wins. My personal best is 14 m and 37 cm, which for Americans is 47 feet 1.4 in. This is actual size, by the way. [laughter] I started triple jumping at 15 and I became a sprinter at first, but then I decided triple jump was for me because it was a little bit more under the radar with less competition so I could just focus on improving and getting better. I always saw myself as more than just an athlete. I loved expressing myself

through videos and when I was eight, my parents bought me my first ever video camera. I was so excited and straight away started making YouTube videos. But one day, I found out that my YouTube channel got hacked and all the videos were deleted. I was so annoyed and frustrated, and I wish that there was a way to preserve my creativity without it all being lost. My career took off at 16. I broke the British youth record within six months of training for Triple Jump. And I went from strength to strength, winning the British Championships 11 times. There are a few ways to earn as an athlete.

sponsorships, social media or government body funding. But all of these models are centralized and athletes can be dropped at any moment. Funding can be pulled with little warning and social media pages can be removed like my YouTube channel, which can cause a lot of stress. Let's go back to 2021. I was in great shape and ready to complete the distance needed to get to the Olympic Games. Now, there's a weird way thinking triple jump where if there's too much wind behind you, the jump ends up being completely illegal and doesn't count. In my first competition, I jumped the Olympic standard. There was too much wind.

Second competition, third competition, too much wind. And when I did try to get it with no wind, I was 10 centimeters off. I just saw the Olympic dream slipping away from me. I didn't make the team, but I told myself that I'm going to pick myself up. I'm going to get stronger and I'll try my best to prove to my sponsor that they should keep me. But my sponsor dropped me. Here I was at a crossroads. Do I quit like a third of female athletes or do I find a path less taken? So I was frustrated and sad and doom scrolling Tik Tok and came across this actual Tik Tok from Gary Vee talking about NFTTS and I was like I have no idea what this is but I'm going to try and just make one. So I called it Afro Chicks. Many NFT projects at the

time didn't really have braids or afro styles. So, I just hand drew them. I minted my first NFT. I posted it to X and within two days, one had sold. And I couldn't really believe it. So, I just continued drawing throughout the 2022 season. And by the middle of that year, I had earned more than the sponsorship that I had lost. But this time, instead of one centralized sponsor, it was multiple owners, a fragmented sponsorship model. I kept engaging with the community and wanted to take the ownership aspect of NFTs to the next level. So with every sold NFT, I would try and place it on my kit when I competed. And if I made it to TV, I would point at the NFT and shout out the holder afterwards. So in a way, the owner was jumping with me. This was

a hit. And when I made it to the World Championships, unfortunately, none of my family could attend. So I wasn't really expecting anything in the crowd. But then I heard some shouts and realized that some of my community members actually made the trip to come and watch. And that's when I knew that this space was really special. It didn't just help me to raise money for my athletics. I was also able to help other underfunded athletes as well. Fast forward to today, I started using onchain tools like Rodeo and Farcaster to document my Olympic journey through videos on chain. And I now have over 12,000 collectors. I've been also creating crypto educational content to try and simplify some of these tools for both athletes and creators, helping them to benefit from these decentralized opportunities like I have. With the

direction that the creator economy is heading, I'm no longer relying on middleman. And I also don't have to worry about funding that could just be pulled from me at any time. Blockchain allows athletes and creatives to earn directly from their supporters through tokenized content so that they can fund their dreams. Platforms like Zora, Rodeo, Farcaster enable creators to monetize their posts via trade in fees and rewards, creating new revenue streams beyond traditional sponsorships. The majority of female athletes still face significant pay gaps and are underfunded. But these alternatives are truly transformative. Heading into next season, I can compete with less financial pressure and I can continue to use these tools and these technologies

to take me further. So those crucial 10 cm they ended up opening the door to this onchain world which has given me so many opportunities and I really believe it can help the next generation of creators and athletes. So now I have a newfound confidence that I will reach the next Olympics in 2028. So see you there in 995 days. Thank you.