Winning a medal at the Olympics comes with a cash prize in some countries, and the range of the monetary award is vast.
While the International Olympic Committee does not give out prize money for earning medals, several nations compensate athletes — sometimes with more than just cash — for making the podium. Athletes from Great Britain, Norway and a handful of other countries do not receive any direct payment for winning a medal.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee pays American athletes who bring home the gold $37,500, which is on the lower end of the scale compared to other countries. A silver medalist gets $22,500 and a bronze winner $15,000. Those payouts are up from the 2016 Olympics, when the committee awarded $25,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver medals and $10,000 for bronze medals.
Of course, winning gold for the U.S. can lead to all kinds of compensation such as endorsements, shoe deals and a photo on Wheaties boxes.
Hong Kong and Singapore offer the highest payouts, by far, for Olympic winners. A gold medalist from Hong Kong, a country that has had four athletes reach the top of the podium in its history, gets $768,000. Singapore pays gold medalists $745,000, per CNBC. To date, that city-state had only one athlete win the gold, Joseph Schooling, who beat Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The two countries are among at least seven that provide six-figure incentives for Olympic victors.
Cash, cows and cookies
Some nations, though, offer more than money.
In addition to $100,000 in cash, the Philippines gave gymnast Carlos Yulo, a gold medalist in floor and vault, a house and lot, a two-bedroom condominium, around $18,000 worth of furniture, a lifetime supply of cookies, and free meals for life from several local restaurant chains including a Korean fried chicken franchise and ramen bar, according to Front Office Sports.
Other countries like Iraq and Austria have rewarded Olympians with land or real estate. Malaysian athletes who win any medal receive cars. In 2021, Indonesia’s badminton gold medalists received five cows and a meatball restaurant, per Front Office Sports.
South Korea offers, perhaps, the most unique incentive. The country requires men to serve 18 to 21 months of compulsory military training, but an Olympic medalist receives an exemption.
South Korean medalists are awarded pensions in addition to the prize money, 63 million Korean won ($43,288) for gold. According to a local media report cited by CNBC, South Korea’s gold medalists have the option of taking a lump sum of 67.5 million Korean won or a lifelong monthly pension of a million won.