I’m going to give this a bump since im interested in some of the answers to these questions.
since i made this post i’ve done a lot of searching on google and found a lot of info. this here is pretty interesting 
http://usatriathlon.org/blog/post/692
So is this an olympic qualifier? http://cornman.tamatoledo.net/ How can I find out? It seems like it is… not sure though. Is there a list somewhere?
Not even close its a special qualifier for USAT nationals. Which means the top 33 percent of each age group qualify. instead of just the top 10 percent
Specifically, a “professional triathlete” is a triathlete who is in possession of their “pro card”. There are six criteria by which USA Triathlon measures this - other countries differ. You can see the US list here http://usatriathlon.org/content/index/670.
Once someone is a pro - the income can be absolutely vary greatly. There area few pros who make very good money - I’m thinking Greg Bennett last year or any other who can combine several big prize purses a year with solid sponsor contracts. Then there are pros who haven’t won a single dollar in prize money ever and while they might have a product sponsor or a photo incentive contract with a manufacturer they are not earning their income form the sport.
The Olympics are another matter - for this the pro needs to race the ITU “continental cups” until they earn enogh points to be be eligable to race the ITU World Cup events - then, within the window of the Olympics they need to be in the top 125 in world ranking to be eligable to step into their own nations Olympic qualifier and then have a damn good day there to qualify. Keep in mind only 8 countries have 3 slots for each gender - many countries can only send 2 atheltes and some can only send 1.
Hope that starts the process.
Ian
Specifically, a “professional triathlete” is a triathlete who is in possession of their “pro card”. There are six criteria by which USA Triathlon measures this - other countries differ. You can see the US list here http://usatriathlon.org/content/index/670.
Once someone is a pro - the income can be absolutely vary greatly. There area few pros who make very good money - I’m thinking Greg Bennett last year or any other who can combine several big prize purses a year with solid sponsor contracts. Then there are pros who haven’t won a single dollar in prize money ever and while they might have a product sponsor or a photo incentive contract with a manufacturer they are not earning their income form the sport.
The Olympics are another matter - for this the pro needs to race the ITU “continental cups” until they earn enogh points to be be eligable to race the ITU World Cup events - then, within the window of the Olympics they need to be in the top 125 in world ranking to be eligable to step into their own nations Olympic qualifier and then have a damn good day there to qualify. Keep in mind only 8 countries have 3 slots for each gender - many countries can only send 2 atheltes and some can only send 1.
Hope that starts the process.
Ian
Gosh, Kona winners seem seriously bad-arse right now.