A tae kwondo athlete from New Zealand has opened a brothel in hopes of paying for his training towards competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Logan Campbell, 23, competed at Beijing in 2008, but has now opened a 14-room “gentleman’s club” after becoming tired of seeking funding from his parents.

New Zealand decriminalised prostitution six years ago, and brothels are allowed to operate with few restrictions.
But NZ Olympic officials say Campbell’s business venture may count against him when choosing a team for London 2012.

“Selection takes into account not just performance but also the athlete’s ability to serve as an example to the youth of the country,” Team NZ funding manager John Schofield told the country’s Sunday Star Times newspaper.

Logan Campbell says he began looking for alternative ways of raising Olympic funding when he realized how difficult it was proving to raise adequate cash to support his training towards a place at the London Olympics.

To take the financial strain from his parents Campbell has gone into partnership with Hugo Phillips, a 20-year-old accountancy graduate, to set up what the pair insist is a “high-class” escort agency.

He hopes to take a couple of years off to work full-time on the new venture, before returning to training in 2011 with a NZ$300,000 Olympic kitty.