Olympics: How Olympic Medalists Make Money (and Which Are the Only 2 Sports That Pay Per Medal at Paris 2024)

When the modern Olympic Games began in 1896, in Athens, they were an amateur competition only, and there were no professional athletes.

And of course without any cash prizes.

However, in Paris 2024, there are athletes who earn millions of dollars a year for athletes who have to make raffles to fund their training.

Olympic athletes can earn money from a wide range of sources: from sponsors, prize money from their home country, and, for the first time, a prize awarded at the Games themselves.

But not all sports award prizes to their athletes, which has sparked much debate about how best to divide up the profits generated by the Olympic Games.

Of the 32 sports that will be held at Paris 2024, only two will reward its athletes: boxing and athletics.

The World Athletics Federation, the governing body for athletics worldwide, made a surprise announcement shortly before the Paris Olympics: gold medalists in the sporting events will receive a prize of $50,000.

A few weeks later, the International Boxing Association (IBA, which is not recognized by the IOC and has not organized a boxing tournament at the Olympics since Tokyo 2020) announced a $100,000 prize for the gold medalists.

The AIBA, of course, made it clear that a quarter of the prize money should go to the original boxing federation and another quarter to the coach.

In both sports, silver and bronze medalists will also receive a sum of money, but it will be much smaller. In boxing, even fifth place will receive some money.

The truth is that the award does not come from the authorities of the International Olympic Committee, but from the international federations of both disciplines.

To pay for these awards, the IAAF uses some of the money it receives from the IOC as part of the economic profits from the Olympic Games.

Previously, this money was spent on broader athlete development programmes, so some people questioned whether offering cash prizes was the right choice.

“The fact that the money goes to the winners may reinforce the idea that the most famous athletes are the ones who get paid,” Tom Basson, of the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University, told the BBC.

“probably Those who win gold medals in athletics Whether they are those with important sponsorship agreements,He adds.

For Basson, this has led to criticism that the money could be better used to develop athletes, giving money to younger athletes rather than those at the peak of their careers.

But even Olympic champions can use some extra cash. In 2017, it was reported that Olga Korbut, a Russian artistic gymnast who won four gold medals in her career, had to sell three of her gymnasts for $333,000.

If the source of athletes’ money is the IOC, the source of prize money in boxing is less clear.

The International Olympic Committee has withdrawn the IBA certificate. Due to the “financial lack of clarity” in its operations.

“As always happens with AIBA, it is not clear where the money comes from,” the IOC said in a statement.

“This awards move could be a strategy for AIBA to stay in the Olympics and be relevant internationally,” Basson said.

At Paris 2024, many countries will honor medalists with money.

In Latin America, countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia reward Olympic medalists with money.

For example, Mexico awards approximately $154,000 to gold medalists, $103,000 to silver medalists and $52,000 to bronze medalists.

In Colombia, the numbers are slightly lower: a gold medalist gets $82,000 and a silver medalist (like gymnast Angel Barajas) gets $42,000.

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who won the gold medal in floor competition for her stunning performance in artistic gymnastics, will receive nearly $65,000 from the Brazilian government.

Globally, Singapore is estimated to be the country that gives the most money to its gold medal winners.

For example, an Olympic champion from this country will receive about $750,000.

For the French, the prize is $80,000 for each gold medal. The Moroccans hope to win $200,000.

In the United States, gold medalists receive about $37,000.

Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, do not offer any cash prizes.

Instead, the British team schedules funding ahead of the Games and competitors with a good chance of winning gold can receive up to around $36,000 a year.

Although these numbers are not small at all, they do not even come close to the money that the most famous athletes can earn.

“In Paris 2024, there is a real mix of athletes who get paid a lot, like the US basketball team, and athletes who have part-time jobs to fund themselves,” says Basson.

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm has become the highest-paid athlete at Paris 2024, according to the annual list of wealthy athletes published by Forbes magazine.

The magazine estimates he earned $218 million last year, most of it coming from the controversial LIV golf tour, which is funded by Saudi Arabia.

It’s no surprise that the second highest paid person in the United States is a basketball star: LeBron James.

He is believed to have earned $128 million.

With the huge sums spent on sports like golf and basketball, competing in the Olympics likely had little impact on Ram and James’ income.

But for lesser-known athletes, winning a medal can help give them a much-needed boost to their wallets.

Athletes often include a clause in their sponsorship contracts stating that they will receive a bonus from their sponsors if they reach the podium.

These terms are generally confidential, but during a legal dispute between Nike and New Balance in 2016, it was revealed that American runner Boris Beryan was due to receive $150,000 if he won gold at the Olympics.

“I think a lot of people see athletes, the best athletes in the United States or soccer players playing for European teams, and they think that making $100,000 or $200,000 a week is what happens to all athletes, when in fact that’s not the case,” Basson says.

“There are a lot of athletes who are struggling to get ahead. A couple of years ago, there was research done in Australia and it basically found out that 40% of athletes currently training for the 2032 Olympics have a part-time or full-time job.

Even in the United States, where many of the world’s richest sports stars live, that represents a formidable effort for many competitors.

A recent study by that country’s Olympic and Paralympic Committee found that 26.5 percent of current athletes earn less than $15,000 a year.

The bitter debate over whether giving money to top athletes is the best use of sports federation funds will continue, and is likely to extend beyond athletics and boxing.

“There will definitely be pressure on federations to pay the prize money,” says Basson.

However, this may cause problems for sports that receive less media exposure and therefore less money.

“International athletics and boxing are two of the most prominent sports in the world,” Basson explains.

He highlights that they are two sports that will find it easier to get additional funding from endorsements and sponsorships.

“And maybe in other sports, like rowing, for example, if they have pressure to pay athletes, they may not be able to do that as easily,” the expert warns.

The Paris 2024 Olympic champions can at least take solace in the fact that they will be awarded a gold medal if they emerge victorious at this year’s Games.

What is the value of that?

This year’s winner’s medal contains 505 grams of silver and six grams of gold (gold medals have not been pure gold since 1912), so its total value is $950.

But the Paris Olympic heroes hope the memories of their victories will be priceless.

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