How Much Money Will Athletes Get For Bringing Home An Olympic Medal?

SWEET FINISHES

Did you know that Olympic medalists in some countries are given quite a large sum of money for making it to the podium? It's true. I have to think that this isn't the reason these amazing sports idols do what they do, but it has to sweeten the pot.

The money doesn't come from The Olympics or the media. This money comes directly from the countries the Olympians are competing in. Some of the biggest pots of gold are for countries that you don't always expect to see at the top of the list, so I can understand how important it could be for a country to get noticed and have the best athletes in the world residing in their countries.

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HELLO HONG KONG!

Hong Kong wants to be on that podium more than any other country if money has anything to do with it.

Hong Kong will pay a Gold Medalist $768,000, a Silver Medalist $384,000, and a Bronze Medalist $192,000. Not bad!

Singapore gives their Gold Medalists 1 Million Singapore dollars, which is about $745 for Gold, $500,000 for Silver, and $250,000 for Bronze.

Indonesia, Israel, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Malaysia all pay somewhere between $300,000 to $200,000 to their Gold Medalists, and then the rest are much less.

UNITED STATES 

What does the United States pay its medalists?

• Gold Medalist: $38,000
• Silver Medalist: $23,000
• Bronze Medalist: $15,000

Is that embarrassing? Or is it that we look at it differently? Our athletes don't do it for the money; they do it to push themselves to their absolute best ability. Even though we know the advertising offers will come, do our athletes really WANT to subject themselves to things like posing with a bowl of cereal?

IT'S NOT ALL CASH

Cash isn't the only incentive offered to Olympians. In some countries, the athletes are offered apartments and vehicles.

Some countries offer the medalists pensions in addition to the prize money, free drinks and food, and lifetime transportation.

Some countries do not offer anything to their Olympians. Those countries include Norway and Great Britain.

FULL LIST OF MONETARY PAYOUTS

You can see the full list of monetary prize awards by clicking HERE.