Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz will benefit from this match, as she won the countrys first gold medal ever last weeka feat the country has chased since its first Olympic delegation attended the 1924 Paris Games. So, not only is there an incentive to stand on the pedestal in order to have your name etched in Olympic history, but the athletes also look forward to the cash prize that comes with it. How much money do Olympic athletes get paid? The Czech Republic has 116 athletes competing in Beijingtying with Sweden for the ninth-largest delegation at the Gamesalthough 48 come from its mens and womens hockey teams. Off the field, the gold medalist works as a professional makeup artist and has a motivational sports camp in the works called "You Throw Girl.". Russia Russia, this year's Winter Olympics host country, treats their athletes well. Some U.S. athletes also receive stipends that help cover their rent and food, per CNBC. Usain Bolt Celebrating at the Beijing Olympics. The sporting economy in the U.S. allows athletes to better monetize their talents as most of it is driven by the private sector, according to Unmish Parthasarathi, founder and executive director at consulting firm Picture Board Partners. And then you also have to pay taxes. A gold medal is worth $37,500, a silver medal is worth $22,500 and a bronze medal is worth $15,000. S$1,000,000, S$500,000, S$250,000, for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively. 1, and I for one think its a banger. By Caroline Picard Aug 16, 2016 Save Article New! Take the example of Sangmoon Baea two-time winner on the PGA Tourwho had to enlist in the military in 2015. Sixty percent of elite athletes don't consider themselves financially stable. Indonesia's Aflah Prawira competing in a heat for the men's 1,500m freestyle on July 30. A 2012 CNN Report states most American Olympic athletes make $15,000 or less. For example, tennis star Naomi Osaka reportedly made $55 million from endorsements in 12 months, and was named the highest-paid female athlete ever, according to reports. 10 Kyle Keith Shewfelt Shewfelt is a gymnast from Canada. Here are ten countries that offer six-figure rewards for Olympic gold medalists. Some international leaders have taken the prizes to new levels. So, the Chinese medalists will at least be fashionable. For example, retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has made more than $30 million in one year just from endorsements alone, per AS. Beijing individual gold medalists are entitled to 3,049 BSB, or about $143,000 at the current level. How Olympians make money, explained. Olympic athletes do not get paid by just attending the Olympic Games. The 19-year-old phenom passed up on sponsorship deals in order to swim for Stanford this fall, but she'll still accept hundreds of thousands in prize money for her six medals. Bobsled is a much smaller Olympic sport, and so there's three medals that we can earn. It's now up to $30,000. (Update, February 7: On top of that big prize, the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong offers smaller rewards of its own, including the equivalent of $1,900 for gold.). With of all this time designated to the Olympics, how do Olympic athletes make money? Narrator: That's because unless they win a medal, Olympians don't get paid for competing at the games. Estimated pay from 2016 Olympics: $115,000. Additionally, Olympians can receive an athletic grant or part-time job through the Olympic Job Opportunities Program. Like most of the 11,000 athletes competing at the Tokyo Olympics, Cheung Ka-long was facing long odds. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. It gives medalists a lifetime allowance starting at age 45: 100% of the average net salary in the country for gold medalists (roughly $1,100 in 2021), falling to 80% for silver medalists and 60% for bronze. Narrator: In every sport, the USOPC awards a $37,500 medal bonus for gold, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze. Those paychecks will add up for champions like the fencers who triumphed in the womens team pe event. To watch & listen the FULL Podcast check out the links belowListen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5JQu91FRevsm4GSPr8JbYBListen on Apple Podcasts . Learn more about our, How 15 U.S. Olympians Actually Make Money. This is a BETA experience. They also depend on the athlete's popularity. All males in South Korea are drafted into 18 months of mandatory military service following their training. The pay structure has left many athletes broke, driving for DoorDash, or crowdsourcing. Yahoo Finance reports that those delicious prizes remain on offer in Tokyo. A 29-year-old Olympian who reaches the life expectancy of 78 would collect more than $300,000. I want to go back. Most major companies are paying for travel, equipment, contest entry, etc. You've hit your max! Instead, the ROC winners will be treated to the golden tones of Pyotr Tchaikovskys Piano Concerto No. Those salaries are RM5,000 ($1,182 USD) for gold, RM3,000 ($709 USD) for silver, and RM2,000 ($473 USD) for bronze. Athletes who win gold in the Beijing Olympics receive 50,000,000 Hungarian Forint, or roughly $161,000. The Philippines' Hidilyn Diaz after winning the women's 55-kilogram weightlifting competition on July 26. Medallists get the most out of this, with training worth between 37,000 and 57,000 being provided. Making the podium isnt always the financialor gustatorywindfall you might expect, especially if you compete in a rather niche sport, like say, race walking. Hell soon collect gold of a different kind: The territorys government rewards its Olympic athletes with 5 million Hong Kong dollars ($643,000 at the current exchange rate) for gold medals in individual events. THB12,000,000, THB7,200,000, THB4,800,000, for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively. Estimates put his net worth at around $55 million. (You can exhale, taxpayers.). Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Become a GH+ member to read and save unlimited articles. Russia was runner-up with a $135,000 golden bonus, and France. But each of the young athletes also will receive more than $205,000 for their success. So, how much does an Olympian make? The financial strain is huge. Olympians typically receive monetary, and sometimes non-monetary, rewards from their countries for winning a place on the podium. In dollar terms, a Malaysian Olympic bronze winner will receive a higher performance reward than a gold winner from Australia or Canada. Thats no small perk in Denmark, which has one of the worlds highest tax rates but awards roughly $15,000 tax free for individual gold medals. We get a stipend, and it is $300 a month. Ecuador set a $100,000 reward for any athlete who could win goldso congrats to champion road cyclist Ricard Carapz on his new stacks. The cyclist just missed out on a medal in the women's road race, but Abbott can also show off her skills as a certified yoga instructor. Here's a look at how much money medalists from 12 countries could take home, based on data compiled by CNBC from various national Olympic committees, sport associations as well as personal finance site Money Under 30. The path to the 2024 Paris Olympics for Ukrainian athletes is clouded by war, anger and pain. Additional lifetime monthly salary of 5,000, 3,000, and 2,000 ringgit for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively. But while Turkey has competed at 17 Winter Games, it has yet to win a medal on snow or ice. But most athletes rely on at least a few of these different income boosters: As you'd probably expect, athletes get a sizable check for winning an event in their sport. For most athletes, it's not enough. Each member of a medal-winning team is eligible for the same amount as an individual athletegreat news for the Hungarian mens water polo team, a perennial gold-medal threat. Competitions leading up to the Olympics, like the Diamond League meets, can have $10,000 first-place prizes. 0. Italy is an Olympic power, finishing seventh in total medal count at last years Tokyo Summer Games with 40 and 13th at the last Winter Games, in PyeongChang in 2018, with ten. More than 600 U.S. athletes are competing at the Tokyo Olympics, and the United States has so far won 11 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze. Compare that to the salary of USA Track & Field's CEO, who earned $1.2 million in 2018. Eighth place is worth 153 BSB, or about $7,000. Kosovo's Albin Tahiri in the slalom at the world championships in February 2021. But the USA's medal bonuses are lower than what other nations offer. It's safe to assume most Olympic athletes compete for the love of the game. Russia has one of the smaller payments worldwide. Then in June he quit his job. More often, these sponsorships are performance-based, meaning an athlete has to win a certain number of competitions. You can now save articles. (In the team events, medalists divide up larger pots of money.) [23] The money, however, is taxable and the medal winner is obligated to make a donation back into the sport they are representing. . Philippines [ edit] Bae explained that he lost [his] feel how to play golf. Malaysia also has hefty rewards for its Olympic winners. For example, speed skater Mitch Whitmore said he received a nine-month stipend that paid for his training and living expenses after finishing fourth in a 2017 competition. Cheung Ka-long, a fencer, won gold in mens foil in Tokyo, earning 5 million Hong Kong dollars (about $642,000 at the current exchange rate) under the citys Henderson Land Commendation Scheme for Elite Athletes. Of course, athletes only win medals once every four years. For athletes who win multiple Olympic gold medals, they entitled S$1 million only for the first individual gold medal won at the Games. This is very common with medal-winning Olympians. How 15 U.S. Olympians Actually Make Money They've taught, modeled and engineered their way to Rio. He also fought Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero in 2013, earning at least $32M (guaranteed) for that fight, excluding pay-per-view fees. Most Olympians, though, aren't multimillionaire athletes like Naomi Osaka, Rory McIlroy or Kevin Durant, so competing at this elite level can be a financial struggle. The state government of Manipur has pledged to give Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu 10 million Indian rupees ($134,000) for her silver-medal performance. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Or those athletes in 1908 who competed in pistol dueling. Singapore offers the highest known payout for an individual gold medalist at 1 million Singapore dollars, plus rewards of 500,000 for silver medalists and 250,000 for bronze medalists. However, if an athlete earns a medal, there is a medal bonus attached to it. Narrator: And those bonuses are only up for grabs every four years when the Olympics come around again. After an August 2016 decree, Malaysias Paralympians receive the same amounts. And in 2020, the USOPC launched the Athlete Marketing Project, which better connects athletes with sponsors. The first, stipends. A gold medal is worth $37,500, a silver medal is worth $22,500 and a bronze medal is worth $15,000. Unlike countries such as the UK or Singapore, American Olympians don't get paid to attend the Olympics. Narrator: There's the price of gym time, massage and sports medicine appointments, dieticians, lots of healthy food, you name it. The self-proclaimed "Shot Diva" just became the first American woman to win shot put at the Olympics, and set a new national record. How much do Olympic athletes get paid? Italy has also adopted a model of massive payoutsalthough a little less than Singapore. But her winnings didnt stop there. "Its not just, like, 'Hey, sponsor me because Im on TV,'" alpine skier Stacey Cook told CNBC. Incentives by Country (USD equivalent in 2021) Countries Gold Silver; Philippines: $200,000: $100,000: Russia: $61,000: $38,000: Serbia: Playing sports can be lucrative for some people - even if they don't . You can now save articles. As a result, some countries have instituted government-backed incentives for medal winners, to encourage greater participation and, in turn, the drive to win national bragging rights. [1][2] Countries like Singapore and India, sports have heavy government involvement and athletes are given high monetary reward for winning an Olympic medal as a means to promote the growth of sporting culture in those countries. Rp 5 billion, Rp 2 billion, and Rp 1 billion, for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively. If competitors have an audience of a few million followers, that's usually enough to attract advertisers' interest. New! This is just the second Winter Games for Malaysia, which will be represented by skiers Aruwin Salehhuddin and Jeffrey Webb. Snowboarder Jamie Anderson recently posted her own #ad for Pacifico Beer. mandatory military service following their training. But the select few who are able to scale the podium339 sets of medals are set to be awarded at the Tokyo Games, across 33 sportsmay find that their countries are willing to make it all worth their while. Russia . I've been raised by a single mother since I'm 8 years old, so she definitely was funding everything when I was younger. That makes its bonuses all the more eye-popping: Paying roughly $212,000 per gold, $106,000 per silver and $71,000 per bronze at last summers exchange rateand the same for athletes in team eventsthe nation shelled out more than $9 million for its haul in Tokyo. Lauryn: And you also are responsible for your coach, making sure that they are paid and compensated accordingly. The United States gives athletes who win gold $37,500, while one European country awards six figures. Narrator: Coaches can cost more than $100 an hour. But what else does it earn them? 958 in the worldquite a drop-off for someone who ranked as high as 26th during his career. The countrys Central Asian neighbors also reportedly offer big cash prizes to medalists. But, if they do well at the games the athletes can make some serious money. With approximately 15,000 athletes competing in 26 sports, with around 1,000 medals up for grabs, as CNN reported, the majority of Olympic athletes will see neither medal nor sponsorship. The U.S., for instance, is awarding $37,500 for each gold medal an athlete earns in Tokyo, plus $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze, on top of the grants and benefits like health insurance that it makes more widely available. You might assume Olympic athletes live in the gym or make $$$ purely through major endorsement deals, but back on American soil many of them have cubicles and coworkers just like you (and if you work at Deloitte or Dick's Sporting Goods, you might even be one of them). At the 2018 games, the USOPC upped the medal bonuses by 50%. However, some individual prizes remain: The Chinese government partnered with Tim Yip (aka Ye Jintian), a renowned visual artist and Oscar-winning designer, to create Champion Dragon Clothes for athletes to wear on the podium. Like Indonesia, the Malaysian government gives medalists both a one-time payment and a monthly allowance: an upfront check of roughly $237,000 for gold, $71,000 for silver or $24,000 for bronze. US Olympians . It's free! Individual-sport athletes from Bulgaria are eligible to receive up to about $143,000 per gold medal, depending on the budget of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. She went into credit card debt because of me. This year, U.S. Olympians can expect to receive $37,500 for each gold medal they win, $22,500 for each silver, and $15,000 for each bronze from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USPOC), per Forbes. NBA, I mean, we don't even have to cover that one. Malaysia diver Yan Yee Ng during the three-meter springboard preliminary round on July 30. Unfortunately, this exacerbates the inequality of the Olympicsonly some countries have enough disposable athletic funding to dole out payments to anyone who trains or wins medals. The nation also dropped rewards for team officials. Only one of the delegations six athletes in Tokyo still has a shot at that prize this year: 400-meter runner Mohammad Jahir Rayhan, who will be lucky to advance out of the preliminaries. Here's Just How Much Money Olympic Athletes Make, What Is Simone Biles' Net Worth? In dollar terms, a. This allows those that receive funding to train full-time and also pays for the necessary support teams, facilities, and equipment. The more medals athletes win, the more money they make. In the UK, the Government does put aside around $160 million (114.7 million) each and every year, which is given to Olympic and Paralympic sports. Here are the 10 highest paid gymnasts. A gold medal is worth $37,500, a. The actor and model appeared in Beyonce's "Run The World (Girls)" music video. The gymnast earned a bronze medal for pommel horse, but the 25-year-old dad also works as a licensed realtor in Arizona. Whitmore, the speed skater, explained that financial worries put a lot of extra pressure on Olympians. A lot of hourly jobs went away for a good period of time during COVID. The same year, the amount for Paralympic Games. At the same Olympiad, German medalists got a lifetime supply of beer, and Belarusian winners received a stockpile of sausage. Outside of the major sports, and those athletes that have high profiles, a lot of these athletes really struggle financially, Dr. Tim Baghurst, the head of the Interdisciplinary Center for Athletic Coaching at Florida State University, told WUSA9. Norway, which topped the medal table at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics with a total of 39, also doesnt pay for medals. Ongoing uncertainty about letting Russian and Belarusian athletes try to qualify for the Paris Olympics affects "less than half" of the 32 sports at the games. Its not the only country that offers additional pay for a record breaker. Olympic athletes do not get paid by just attending the Olympic Games. But Cheung, who had carried Hong Kongs flag during the opening ceremony, did his home territory proud, battling back from an early deficit against Garozzo to become Hong Kongs first Olympic champion in 25 years. free lifetime flights on AirAsia Philippines. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee rewards athletes $37,500 for every gold medal won, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. Still, the lucky few who manage to climb the Olympic podium could be in line for a hefty bonus checkas long as theyre from the right place. Take Singapore, one of the richest nations in the world as measured by GDP per capita, which doles out massive payments to medal winners. Competitors don't really receive a fixed salary. I get to play the sport I love every single day. Still, many athletes aren't at the Simone Biles or Lindsey Vonn level of fameand that makes scraping together an income much harder. South Korea: $55,000 (The special bonus will be explained momentarily.) So, how much money do Olympians make? But some countries do. Canada is not the only country to reward their Olympic athletes for earning medals. They are from endorsement deals. The IOC has recently eased Rule 40, which prohibited athletes from making money off their image rights before, during, and after the Olympics. Compared to the Olympics and their large monetary rewards, Paralympic champions historically have not earned as much for each medal finish. Russia Is the Only Winner in the Kamila Valieva Mess, Its Time for USA Gymnastics to Take the Fall Its Been Avoiding, The 24 Craziest Stats From the Tokyo Olympics. Lauryn: The funding was quite different between the two. Maggie Steffens: Some of us as athletes have been really fortunate to gain individual sponsorships. Most of that prize money is not. (The price tag for a silver is $111,000.) Other Filipino companies are giving her thousands more in cash to go along with it. Prize money is doubled in the case a medal is won by a team of four or more individuals. How much Olympic athletes earn depends on the sport, which nation they represent, and if they win any medals. While the country has never claimed a medal on snow, the Cyprus Sports Organization will pay for a finish anywhere in the top 16: roughly $168,000 for a gold medal, $140,000 for silver and $123,000 for bronze, all the way down to $11,000 for 16th place. Athletes around the world salary ranges from $16,628 to $187,200. However, if an athlete earns a medal, there is a medal bonus attached to it. A small handful of athletes get paid housing, but not many. Few feats in sports earn athletes as much glory and respect as winning an Olympic medal. All Rights Reserved. A U.S. Olympic athlete, for example, receives $37,500 US for each gold medal in Tokyo, plus $22,500 for silver. But every athlete's contract is different. There are a few different types of sponsorships Olympic athletes can sign with. So always going into a race with that is an immense amount of pressure. In addition, a gold-medal performance boosts an athletes stipend from the committee. Everything was shut down. I feel like I am one of the best in America. It didnt take long for an athlete to come to collect: Two Kazakhstani competitors won bronze last Saturday, in weightlifting and judo, and another weightlifter followed with a bronze on Monday. Women's Health may earn commission from the links on this page, but we only feature products we believe in. For the Tokyo Olympics, Italian gold medalists receive 180,000 for their victory, with smaller prizes for silver and bronze. This year, U.S. Olympians can expect to receive $37,500 for each gold medal they win, $22,500 for each silver, and $15,000 for each bronze from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Narrator: How much funding an athlete gets depends on performance, and Lauryn: Their ability is to be able to earn medals. She has also been offered two homes and free flights for life, according to reports. According to the USOPC website, U.S. Olympians will earn $37,500 for each gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, $22,500 for a . In fact, a recent survey conducted by the non-profit Australian Sports Foundation discovered just under half of the 521 athletes questioned were " teetering on the brink of retirement ", taking home less than $23,000 a year. NT$20,000,000, NT$7,000,000, NT$5,000,000, for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively. In comparison, Singapore rewards its gold medalists nearly 20 times more than the U.S. Players who clinch their first individual gold medal for the city-state stand to receive 1 million Singapore dollars ($737,000). Kosovo's Nora Gjakova after defeating Japan's Tsukasa Yoshida in a judo semifinal bout on July 26. Monica started one to fund her way to Tokyo. But, if they do well at the games the athletes can make some serious money. Still, these exemptions can be critical for prolonging an athletes career. As the Beijing Winter Games get underway, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. The U.S. lands in the middle of the pack on the global medal-bonus spectrum, based on Forbes reporting, paying more than twice as much for gold as countries like Australia and Canada and roughly half as much as nations like France and Romania. Turns out, it varies. But many countries do, and while the U.S. and Japan have plenty of company in their general price rangethe individual-gold-medal payouts in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Portugal, Serbia and Switzerland, to name a few, are in the same ballpark, stretching from about $15,000 to about $70,000they ultimately land on the modest end of the spectrum. you slip, or just have some little thing go wrong, and its hard to eat for several months.". The payments extend through the top eight places in each event. ", "BIR answers tax issues on Hidilyn Diaz's Olympic winnings", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Incentives_for_Olympic_medalists_by_country&oldid=1138011304. So, the short answer is no, that Olympians don't normally pay for any expenses while competing at the Olympics. Narrator: Nailing a coveted sponsorship is hard. Narrator: But there are three main ways they can make money for being an athlete. Russia certainly has a great deal to celebrate, delivering an exciting and well-run event while finishing atop the medal count in both the number of medals (33) as well as gold garnered (13). Heres what winners around the world can take homealong with their gold, silver, or bronze. Olympic athletes do not get paid by just attending the Olympic Games. Plus, how the winnings stack up for individual and team event athletes. If youre competing for Team China, the government is moving away from cash prizes. Or steeplechase. Italy now pays 180,000 euros to its gold medalistsa 20% jump from 2016plus 90,000 for silver and 60,000 for bronze.