When the Olympic Games come to a close, medalists don’t just walk away from their cardboard beds and massive condom collections with a bit of new bling swinging from their necks. On top of the lucrative endorsement deals that winners are often poised to sign, many will also receive cash rewards from their home countries – though the sum of those rewards looks very different depending on which nation they fly home to.
For US athletes like Simone Biles, who backhandspringed her way to three gold medals in Paris this year, each gold is worth $37,500 – a measly figure compared to the millions she will likely make in sponsorships in the coming months and years. The same gold medal for a Singaporean athlete, however, is worth over $700,000 on its own.
While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself doesn’t offer any payments – just a plush toy and a poster – individual countries promise their athletes specific rewards. Live Sports on TV compiled a list of the top 10 Olympic gold medal bonuses offered globally, in which the US ranks ninth. Singapore tops the list, followed by Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Italy, the Philippines, and Hungary, all of which dole out six-figure rewards.
A separate analysis from CNBC found that Hong Kong offered slightly more than Singapore with $768,000 for gold, and ranked the US no. 10, adding Indonesia, Israel, and Spain to its list of top pay-outs. CNBC also reported that most of the high-paying countries bumped up this year’s offers compared to the Tokyo Olympics, and that some of those countries promise their medalists new cars, apartments, and pensions – or, in Indonesia, five cows – in addition to the cash incentives.
In a press release, Emil Sturesson, head of B2C at Live Sports on TV, noted that the “stark contrast” between countries and their prize money reveals how some, like Singapore, “prioritize direct financial incentives for Olympic success, while the US system relies more on athletes’ individual marketability. Ironically, despite leading the all-time Olympic medal count, the US lags behind many nations in terms of direct financial rewards for its athletes,” he said.
And while there have been plenty of gender-related pay controversies within professional sports over the last decade, this year’s Games saw US women dominate the podiums, with giants like Biles and Katie Ledecky each breaking record medal counts (and securing the dough that goes with them). Those superstars, whose likely “multimillion dollar endorsement earnings dwarf the $37,500 bonus,” as Sturesson pointed out, are on the precipice of a sizable pay-day. It’s just that Uncle Sam won’t be signing the biggest checks.
Emma Glassman-Hughes is the associate editor at PS Balance. Before joining PS, her freelance and staff reporting roles spanned the lifestyle spectrum; she covered arts and culture for The Boston Globe, sex and relationships for Cosmopolitan, travel for Here Magazine, and food, climate, and agriculture for Ambrook Research.
