For a while there was a big issue about "non-professionals" in the Soviet block who were labeled as such because they were not "paid" as professionals - yet they never had to worry about a roof over their head, food in their mouths, paying their coaches, etc.

There was one Winter Games I'm aware of where professional skaters were allowed to compete one last time. I don't remember all of the ones who chose to, but I remember Brian Boitano did. I think (but I'm not sure) that Kristi Yamaguchi declined saying what was there to prove. She'd already won a gold and it's not like she could improve upon that. She could only go down. She left at the top. Why risk going back just to be greedy, and then risk leaving with perhaps nothing. I'm pretty sure that was Kristi.