There are no professional gymnasts (except perhaps retired gymnasts who are employed as sports commentators) so there's no confusion between paid versus unpaid.
You can be a professional (by definition being paid) athlete and still never be in the top 10% of players (see decades of PGA [golf], ATP [tennis] results etc). I’m not sure on the definition, but there’s absolutely tiers of professional players. Take the NBA (basketball) - there’s over 500 players in the competition, they’re good by definition but there’s a subset that are elite. There’s further subsets, for example “generational” which are “once in a generation talent” etc.
However, being an Olympian doesn’t make you elite by default (in fact there’s numerous “loop hole” athletes that prove this is the case, eg Elizabeth Swaney).
Take the London marathon for example. Anyone can take part, but only a few people are allowed to start at the front. Runners must achieve a certain time at other accredited marathons to be able to start at the front. Those who do are classed as Elite level runners.
So I don't see it as a boastful thing, just a matter of fact. If thewizardofaus has reached this status in their sport, then it's reasonable to use the term when describing themselves.
In most sports, there isn't really a formal distinction between elite or competitive or whatever. Professional just means paid, elite or not (lots of golf pros would not be elite by most people's definition).
Anyways, in my little corner of athletics (local 5k-10k running, mountain biking), if a promotor has an "elite" category, it's usually just the name for the fastest wave of athletes. They probably get a front-row start, at a marathon they might have their own hydration/nutrition at aid stations, and they may or may not receive an appearance fee. Local running clubs (competitive ones) tend to have "elite" divisions, where athletes must qualify by pace/results, and this gets them club-funded event entries and possibly travel expenses. In mountain biking, at least outside the realm of international sanctioning bodies, the fastest category is often labelled "expert/elite" or similar and athletes self-select into it (vs sport/intermediate, beginner, masters 45+, or other categories).
i am confused too. i am genuinely curious about this label
Professional means getting paid to do something.
Not all elite athletes are professional athletes, and not all professional athletes are elite athletes.
For instance, major running events typically have an “elite” start vs the mass start for non-elites. And elite is the exact word used.
competitive cannot have negative connotations in sport by very nature of sport
Maybe if they state they are a l33t athlete, it would be less strange?
Does someone describing themself as elite come off as bragging to you vs correctly identifying their skill/competitive level? Just trying to grok the reason to your reaction to this word.