Winning an Olympic gold medal can be life-changing.
Depending on the nationality of the players, it can be quite lucrative.
Athletes who win individual gold medals for Malaysia, Morocco and Serbia at the 2024 Paris Olympics will receive more than $200,000 from their governments or national Olympic committees, according to a USA Today Sports review of medal prize money. At least six countries, including Italy, which won 10 gold medals in Tokyo, are offering prize money of more than $100,000. Others are offering extra perks like apartments or vacation vouchers, or even extra cash if athletes break Olympic records.
Medal prize money can make a big difference, especially for athletes in less popular Olympic sports, where sponsorship deals and endorsements are harder to come by.
“Being first or fourth in this race, the difference of three tenths of a second, can determine what apartment you're going to have next year,” American canoeist Nevin Harrison said at a media event earlier this year. “So that adds pressure. It's not just, 'Are people going to be super excited or are they going to be disappointed?' It's, 'Am I going to be able to pay my rent or not?'”
Introducing Team USA: See who made the U.S. Olympic team and where they're from
Get the latest Olympic news via text! Join the USA TODAY Sports WhatsApp channel
Harrison received $37,500 from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee for winning gold at the 2021 Olympics, part of $13.2 million the committee distributed to medal winners at the Tokyo Games and other qualifying events.
How much do athletes on the U.S. team get paid if they win an Olympic medal?
Prize money offered through the program, which the USOPC calls “Operation Gold,” will remain unchanged in 2024. Athletes will receive $37,500 for each gold medal, $22,500 for each silver medal and $15,000 for each bronze medal in Paris.
These figures are slightly lower than average among the countries surveyed by USA Today Sports, but the U.S. usually wins more medals, so it has to pay a larger medal bonus. For example, the U.S. team topped the medal rankings at the Tokyo Olympics with 39 gold medals, 41 silver medals, and 33 bronze medals.
USA TODAY Sports contacted 40 national Olympic committees to ask about medal prize money and received responses from 25 countries. On average, the 25 countries said they plan to pay athletes the equivalent of $95,000 for a gold medal, $55,000 for a silver medal and $39,000 for a bronze medal. (The amounts are generally paid in the host country's currency but have been converted to U.S. dollars for consistency.)
Which country pays the most to its Olympic medal-winning athletes?
Chinese Taipei and Singapore, the two countries known for paying out the biggest prize money at the last Summer Olympics, did not respond to multiple messages seeking updates. Singapore said it would pay $1 million to any athlete who wins a gold medal in Tokyo. Chinese Taipei said it would pay about $716,000 to weightlifter Kuo Hsing-jun, the only individual gold medalist.
Many countries said they have separate prize money systems for medalists in team events. Some countries offer prize money to athletes who don't make the podium. Germany, for example, offers prize money to all athletes who place between fourth and eighth. Morocco, which offers the highest gold medal bonus ($200,525) and silver medal bonus ($125,328) in the USA Today Sports survey, also offers bonuses to athletes who placed as low as 32nd.
Perhaps the most intriguing medal plan for the 2024 Games comes from Poland, who are going all out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their first Olympic appearance.
According to a Polish Olympic Committee spokesman, in addition to prize money ranging from $39,974 (bronze) to $64,958 (gold), athletes who win medals in Paris will receive an investment diamond, a vacation voucher for two worth about $25,000, and “a painting by a respected and talented Polish artist” (the grade of the diamond and the subject of the painting have yet to be determined).
Gold medalists also get a big perk: free housing. The Polish gold medalist will receive a two-bedroom apartment in the Warsaw metropolitan area.
“The apartments are scheduled to be handed over to the medallists at the end of 2025 or early 2026, so we cannot estimate their value at this point,” a Polish Olympic Committee spokesman said in an email. “This is a newly built Olympic housing complex, so all Polish Olympic champions will live in the same housing complex, and even in the same building.”
Poland won four gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics and two at the last Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Contributor: Rachel Ackson
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
