How Much Do Olympic Athletes Earn? Unless You're Michael Phelps, Not Enough
Watching the 2008 Olympics, I began to wonder how much Olympic athletes earn—if anything—for competing in the games. After all, training for the Olympics (never mind competing) is at least a full-time job. The answer surprised me.
Most Olympians earn nothing for Olympic competition. Many countries’ Olympic teams, including the United States’, provide travel expenses to Olympic competitors, but even these funds don’t come directly from the government, rather a pool of private and corporate donors.
The only direct income a few Olympians receive for their competition is from corporate sponsorships. For an A-list Olympian like Michael Phelps, that means plenty of dough to support himself while he trains and competes from companies like Speedo. And, in addition to regular sponsorships, the swimwear outfit has promised to pay Phelps $1 million if he breaks the 1972 record for seven gold medals in a single Olympics. With five golds under Phelps’ belt already, it looks like he just may do it.
All U.S. athletes can also earn a “medal bonus” from the U.S. Olympic committee for each medal won. The U.S. pays American medal winners $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze medals. Some countries, though not all, pay athletes similar medal bonuses. The highest I found is Russia. This year Russia raised Olympic medal awards to $100,000 for gold, $60,000 for silver, and $40,000 for bronze.
While these bonuses are a nice way to reward athletes financially for a big, big accomplishment, many will never enjoy the steady income that comes with a corporate sponsorship, making what they endure to compete all the more impressive.
Related Posts
- The Top 5 Most Half-Baked Ways I’ve Tried to Earn Money (And What I've Learned)
- Selling Gold or Jewelry? Beware Cash4Gold.com
What's Next?
Reading this site, you're already ahead of most people when it comes to your finances. Why not keep going? Help secure your financial future. Take action today:
- Get help with your debts
- Check your credit report and score, free
- Open a savings account
- Open an individual retirement account (IRA)
- Budget with Quicken
Join the Conversation!
What's your take on this story? Have a related question or comment? Share it now in a comment:
some comments
There are currently 13 of themreply
I'm David, a 20-something ex-financial journalist with a mission: To help you learn about personal finance, take control of your money, and get on with life! More...Take Charge of Your Finances!
Get e-mail updates and a free report: "10 Ways To Improve Your Finances RIGHT NOW". Guaranteed Spam-free. Check it out:
Ask Money Under 30
- Can I claim the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit if my name was on the deed, but not the mortgage?
- I’m a 21-year old college student; should I get a credit card to help pay for car repairs?
- Can I use student loan funds to consolidate credit card debt at a lower rate?
- Where should I store a windfall for a few months until I decide how to invest?
- Should I save for retirement or pay down my student loans faster?
The Philippines is paying $220,000 for a gold…of course, no one from their country has ever won a gold, but still
This is very interesting. I didn’t realize that the US paid out any bonuses. It was also nice to learn the Phelps gets $1MM for breaking the record.. no wonder he swims so many races.
thanks! I was looking for some info. on the subject. Yours was the most well-written article I found. its a shame these athletes don’t get paid more. they work their tales off, granted- mostly for the sense of accomplishment and glory, but I think a country like the U.S. can shell a little more money out to reward them for their efforts. if any given host city/country can spend so many billions of dollars on the olympic games, they should share the wealth with those who actually make it interesting to watch.
Is it true that the US gold medalist get paid 25,000 every year?
Russia actually pays those amounts in Euros (not US dollars), so it’s actually a lot more money.
Lets not forget the money they will get after the olympics if they win gold, such as commericals, cereal boxes, shoes, clothes sponsors and more etc etc. If our country is paying for them to get there and paying for there food etc, then if they make millions afterwards from sponsorships, they should pay it back!!!
@Sergei Those amounts Russia now pays are converted from Euros, so that’s the rough amount they get in Dollars.
I do not agree with this. I do not think that they should pay it back, because they are representing the country. Because of their efforts the country is getting great recognition. When that person wins they say the person name then turn around and say the United States has won x amount of metals.
You have to realize that these people are away from every one and everything that they love and is not making any money, so don’t take the little from them that the United States is giving them for representing this country. (and that’s not only for the money for the medals, but also the hotels, flight, food etc…). It’s all in one package.
Singapore is paying their athletes $1,000,000 for a gold medal. That was mentioned during Olympic table tennis on UHD or NBC coverage.
Its nice to know that you have provided us with this information, but where did you get your information from so I can look it up my self.
Ehy guys, who wrote the article should consider that some countries paid also higher gold medals bonuses:
- Arabic Emirates paid $270K
- Cina paid EUR 180K (more than $260K)
- Italy paid EUR 140K (more than $200K
By the way, Dee
take a look here
http://100kjob.info/tag/gold-medal/
I think getting money would get them pumped up to win but that would put them under alot of pressure so then they might loose.