Winning an Olympic medal is not solely about athletic glory. You also can earn some cold, hard cash for your efforts.
To be sure, the International Olympic Committee is not writing checks to competitors who finish in the top three of their events. But several nations offer monetary rewards to athletes for the medals they win at this year’s games in Paris.
And the money can be substantial.
Take Singapore for example. The Southeast Asian nation pays gold-medal winners 1 million Singapore dollars — the equivalent of roughly $744,000 U.S. dollars, according to CBS. Silver winners earn roughly $372,000 USD, and a bronze medal fetches $186,000.
Hong Kong pays its gold-medal winners $768,000.
In Indonesia, two badminton athletes who won gold medals at the Tokyo Games in 2021 earned a cash prize of $350,000 — plus five cows, a meatball restaurant and a new house.
Those amounts are far higher than what the U.S. pays its medal winners. According to Forbes, American medalists earn:
- Gold: $37,500
- Silver: $22,500
- Bronze: $15,000
The numbers are actually a bit better than they might appear at first blush, however. The money awarded to U.S. medal winners is not taxable unless athletes have an adjusted gross income that exceeds $1 million — or $500,000 if married and filing separate tax returns — according to the IRS.
What’s more, gold medalists in track and field events will receive an additional $50,000 from World Athletics, an international sports governing body.
U.S. athletes can also access other perks, such as health insurance, world-class care at highly ranked medical facilities and college tuition aid.
Why do some nations reward medal winners so lavishly? In 2021, Unmish Parthasarathi, founder and executive director at consulting firm Picture Board Partners, told CNBC it is because governments in some nations are trying to spur a growing sporting culture.
