The games aren’t over yet.
Over the next two weeks, more than 4,000 Paralympic athletes will compete in sports like para archery, blind football, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair racing.
U.S. Paralympians began earning the same amount of money for medaling as Olympians starting with the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021. Now all U.S. athletes earn $37,500 for every gold medal, while silver medalists earn $22,500 and bronze medalists earn $15,000. These amounts are awarded by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Operation Gold program.
Other governments and private sponsors also award athletes for medaling in the form of cash and gifts. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, the governing bodies of these games, do not award athletes for medaling.
During the last Summer Paralympics, U.S. athletes earned a total of 104 medals.
U.S. Paralympians previously received $7,500 for gold, $5,250 for silver and $3,750. The extra money will provide much-needed financial relief for the athletes. Making it to the Olympics and Paralympics is expensive, with many competitors taking on jobs while they train long hours. It costs athletes, on average, $12,000 to participate, according to a report by the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics
“Paralympic athletes continue to face financial barriers to participation through the extra costs of training, equipment, and travel on top of the costs faced by high-performance athletes generally,” according to the report.
The price of a new racing wheelchair can range between $5,000 and $10,000, while replacing individual parts can cost hundreds, according to the USOPC’s website on Paralympics Track & Field coverage.
Ben Washburne, a U.S. Paralympic rower who’s competing at the games, told Marketplace he gets support from the United States Rowing Association, which gives him access to boats, coaches and training equipment. He also gets a monthly stipend, but he has to work a business development job at a green energy company to pay for his rent.
Other countries, like Australia and Canada, will also reward Paralympians who win gold, silver and bronze the same amount as Olympians.
In Canada, Paralympians who win gold will receive $20,000 in Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $14,850 U.S. dollars, while Australian gold medalists will receive $20,000, or about $13,550 in U.S. dollars.
