I Just Learned How Much Olympic Athletes Get For Winning Medals, And Wow, It's Not What I Expected
The Olympic games aren’t all about the medals, except that they kind of are.
The discs of national glory are so valuable that athletes have sold, or donated, theirs for fortunes; collectors can cough up hundreds of thousands, or even a million plus, on the objects.
But how much do the athletes themselves get paid for placing themselves on the podium?
We’ve already written at HuffPost UK about how little Oscars hosts earn from the gig ― what about Olympic medallists?
It truly depends
Different countries offer different rates of pay for different medals, CNBC reports. And while some governments ― like that of Singapore ― will pay the medallist directly, others do it through different organisations.
Britain is a good example; Team GB offers athletes grants before they reach the games, while Sky says British Athletics “does reportedly pay out medal bonuses independent of the government.”
Though every decorated sportsperson will leave the 2024 Olympic Village with “a stuffed toy of the Olympics mascot and a ‘mysterious’ box containing the official event poster,” CNBC shared that a gold medallist for the US will earn £29,793 ($38,000).
That’s measly compared to Hong Kong’s £602,146 ($768,000) for gold, but decadent in comparison to Australia’s £10,192 (13,000).
What are the going rates for different countries?
We’ve converted the dollar sum into pounds, and the conversion rate will change. With that consideration, in order of payouts, they reportedly are (per CNBC):
Hong Kong
— Gold: £601,812 ($768,000)
— Silver: £300,906 ($384,000)
— Bronze: £150,453 ($192,000)
Singapore
— Gold: £583,789 ($745,000)
— Silver: £292,286 ($373,000)
— Bronze: £145,751 ($186,000)
Indonesia
— Gold: £235,083 ($300,000)
— Silver: £117,541 ($150,000)
— Bronze: £47,016 ($60,000)
Israel
— Gold: £212,358 ($271,000)
— Silver: £169,259 ($216,000)
— Bronze: £105,787 ($135,000)
Republic of Kazakhstan
— Gold: £195,902 ($250,000)
— Silver: £117541 ($150,000)
— Bronze: £58,770 ($75,000)
Malaysia
— Gold: £169,259 ($216,000)
— Silver: £50,934 ($65,000)
— Bronze: £17,239 ($22,000)
Spain
— Gold: £79,928 ($102,000)
— Silver: £40,747 ($52,000)
— Bronze: £25,859 ($33,000)
France
— Gold: £68,174 ($87,000)
— Silver: £33,695 ($43,000)
— Bronze: £17,239 ($22,000)
South Korea
— Gold: £35,262 ($45,000)
— Silver: £19,590 ($25,000)
— Bronze: £14,104 ($18,000)
United States
— Gold: £29,777 ($38,000)
— Silver: £18,023 ($23,000)
— Bronze: £11,754 ($15,000)
Japan
— Gold: £25,075 ($32,000)
— Silver: £10,186 ($13,000)
— Bronze: £4,701 ($6,000)
Poland
— Gold: £19,590 ($25,000)
— Silver: £14,888 ($19,000)
— Bronze: £10,970 ($14,000)
Germany
— Gold: £17,239 ($22,000)
— Silver: £12,537 ($16,000)
— Bronze: £8,619 ($11,000)
Australia
— Gold: £10,186 ($13,000)
— Silver: £7,836 ($10,000)
— Bronze: £5,485 ($7,000)
So how do athletes make money?
Not every Olympic athlete will place in the top three, and even if they did, most Olympians only go to the games once.
So how else do they make money?
Well according to The Telegraph, income sources range from plain ol’ day jobs to OnlyFans accounts and social media money.
Other athletes may secure brand deals through their work or get government or charitable grants.
This year, musician Flava Flav began supporting the US women’s Olympic water polo team after learning many of them were working ” one, two and three jobs.”
58% of Olympic athletes did not consider themselves financially stable when asked at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Forbes reports.