Every medal-winning athlete goes home with the same two prizes in their hands from the Paris Olympics 2024. Simply, a chunk of admittedly very well-earned metal denoting their bronze, silver, or gold win and another special souvenir – a poster in a yellow box, depicting Paris including the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine.
But, shockingly, their financial rewards wildly differ. Although no Olympians get paid for competing, winners from one particular country are gifted a two-bed apartment for their endeavors, while others can scoop as much as £587,000 for being at the very top of their game or as little as nothing. Nor do they earn the same in training for their Olympic places, as this depends on their particular sport.
Of course, it’s not just about the money – every winner will be basking in the glory of being the very best in their field and, for some, it’s an extra-special achievement.
This includes sportspeople such as rower Georgie Brayshaw, 30, who was paralyzed and in a coma at the age of 15 after a horrifying accident but has gone on to win gold.
Others worthy of mention are the likes of diver Tom Daley, 30 – who came out of retirement to win silver in the men’s syncho 10m platform just because Robbie, his six-year-old son, wanted to see ‘Papa’ diving in the Olympics – and swimmer Adam Peaty, 29, who beat depression and alcoholism to scoop silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
But in a competition where an athlete can earn as little in training as a Nando’s employee or as much as £170 million through sponsorship deals, remuneration clearly matters. So OK! delved into how much Olympic athletes are really making…
Medal winners aren’t given cash directly by the International Olympics Committee, but it’s sometimes awarded by their country. According to research by Forbes, the US business magazine, Hong Kong gives the most to their participants if they win a medal – gold gets £587,300 with silver awarded £295,500. It’s reported that Singapore gave winning athletes a staggering £776,000 each at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Israel is second on the list, with gold medalists receiving £213,000, while Serbia is third, where a gold winner gets £169,900.
The USA also awards cash prizes, but significantly less than many other nations, from nearly £30,000 for gold medalists like Simone Biles, 27 – who won the team and individual artistic gymnastic women’s all around – to around £12,000 for bronze.
Until this year, Team GB winners received no cash reward, but then World Athletics controversially announced it would give £38,967 to anyone who wins a gold medal in track and field events, such as Team GB sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, 28. Defending the decision, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said it was fair considering athletics’ contribution to the tournament.
They [athletes] are largely responsible for the sums, the revenue streams, the sponsorship that comes into the sport, he told CNBC. I’ve always felt that it was really important to recognize that.
Swimmer Tom Dean, 24, who won gold as part of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay joined the chorus of calls for prize money to be paid to others, saying: When I tell people that we don’t receive any prize money from winning Olympic gold medals, that is always a shock and a surprise to everyone. Whereas we do in the world championships, the Europeans. It’s just the biggest screen, in front of the most people, millions and millions of viewers, but you don’t see anything in return.
British athletes with a chance of winning a medal can also receive up to £28,000 in funding each year, mainly from the National Lottery.
And according to Oxford Economics, which worked out the value of metals used in the medals, the gold is worth £807. This year’s medals are unique, as they all include a piece of the Eiffel Tower embedded in them, removed during renovation works.
It’s not only cold, hard cash that’s there to reward some top-performing athletes, as some countries award other prizes too. Who wouldn’t want the two-bed apartment in Warsaw being offered by the Polish government to every gold medalist this year, celebrating Poland’s 100th year at the Olympics? Every medalist also gets a painting by a Polish artist, an investment-grade diamond, and a holiday voucher.
Medal-winning Serbian athletes will get a national pension that starts when they hit 40 years old, and South Korean medalists are exempted from military service, something that even K-Pop stars usually can’t avoid.
In previous Olympics, Indonesia promised to give one of its gold winners five cows and a house after Tokyo. And in Rio 2016, Russian champs were given BMW X5s, which they immediately sold as they couldn’t pay for their upkeep, with others receiving racehorses. A Japanese table tennis player is reported to have been given 100 bags of rice after scooping silver in Tokyo.
While some athletes earn enough through their sports to concentrate full time on their endeavors, many others need to work to make ends meet. Team GB runner Georgia Bell, 30, works in cybersecurity, while New Zealand canoeist Kurtis Imrie, 28, is an electrician. US boxer Morelle McCane, 29, is even said to have worked as a birthday party clown.
According to LadBible, Great Britain pays some top athletes, possibly like rower Helen Glover, 38, Tom Daley, and tennis player Andy Murray, around £28,130 a year to cover expenses. To put this into perspective, the job vacancy website Glassdoor quotes an assistant manager’s salary at Nando’s in London as between £26,000 and £33,000.
Yet for those who aren’t in the limelight, they might get nothing at all, resorting to friends, family, and crowdfunding to raise funds. Some Olympians, such as Team GB medal-winning divers Noah Williams, 24, and Jack Laugher, 29, have even been selling topless pictures on OnlyFans to fund their sporting dreams.
Many well-known athletes are also paid to endorse goods, from beauty products to fashion lines, and sporting goods to hotels and gyms.
Tom Daley would not only make money from his deals with the likes of Adidas and Etihad Airways in the past, but also the ad revenue from his vast Instagram and YouTube followings. And pole vaulter Molly Caudery, 24, is tipped to earn £10 million through deals such as modeling, as she becomes a household name at the Olympics next week.
The highest earning Olympian at Paris 2024 is reported to be Spanish golfer Jon Rahm, 29, who has deals worth more than £170 million, while American basketball player LeBron James, 39, is believed to receive around £100 million from his endorsements and business ventures.
