Here’s How Much Olympians Are Paid For Winning Medals at The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 have been going on in full swing, and there’s still a week to go. Athletes from all over the world compete on the biggest stage of them all to win gold, silver, and bronze.

As the world looks on to see Olympians give the best performances in their lives, they also wonder how much these athletes make. A fairly reasonable question to ask, and here are the answers.

How much do Olympians get paid?

Olympians all over the world do indeed get paid for winning medals. However, it is not the International Olympic Committee that rewards medalists with monetary prizes. In fact, they don’t even pay athletes for participating in the Olympic games.

Thus, if you were to look at any athlete in the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, rest assured that the organizing committee is not filling up their pockets. Instead, it is the national government that pays an athlete if they win a medal.

After all, winning a gold medal also means bringing glory to your country. Even though the amount of payment an athlete gets for winning a medal varies from country to country, Olympians can always expect bonuses when they stand on a podium.

Starting with the USA, an athlete would receive $37,500, $22,500, and $15,000 for winning the gold, silver, and bronze medal, respectively. However, there are several countries that pay way more for any athlete from their nation to bring home Olympic medals.

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The highest monetary reward for a gold medal is in Singapore. Any Singaporean athlete who wins a gold medal at the Olympics would rake in $737,000. Moreover, even the compensation for bringing a silver or bronze medal exceeds what an American’s gold medal would net. The Singapore government rewards its Olympians with $369,000 and $184,000 for winning silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Different countries will pay their athletes differently for winning medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Second after Singapore is Kazakhstan, the central Asian country which rewards gold medalists with approximately $250,000, $150,000, and $75,000 for gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively.

The Philippines pay $200,000 to an athlete that wins a gold medal at the Olympics. A silver medal for an athlete nets them $99,000, and for a bronze, they receive $40,000. Notably, their weight lifter Hidilyn Diaz brought home the country’s first-ever Gold medal, and thus she received $200,000 USD.

Moreover, Diaz also had additional compensatory rewards, including a house, a condominium, and free flights for all of her life. Out of all the European nations, it is Italy that pays its athletes the most for bringing home Olympic glory.

Italian Olympians receive monetary compensation worth $213,000 for winning a gold medal. Additionally, for a silver medal, they get $107,000, and $71,000 for a bronze medal.

Thus, it is not the Olympic Committee that pays athletes for participation and winning medals, but their own nations. Of course, sponsorships play a huge role in an athlete’s earnings too. Celebrity athletes like Shaun White and Simone Biles make an estimated $10 million a year through brand sponsorships.

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