By Frank Kamuntu
The Paris 2024 Olympics is well underway, with dozens of medals already handed out.
Aside from a medal, a stuffed toy of the Olympics mascot and a “mysterious” box containing the official event poster, some medalists receive additional financial rewards for their efforts.
While the International Olympic Committee does not give out prize money for winning medals, several countries do reward their athletes with medal bonuses.
Uganda gov’t says their gold medalists will receive UGX 100 million, silver medalists UGX 50 million, and bronze medalists UGX 30 million. Additionally, athletes will be provided with a training allowance of $30 and will have outstanding stipends cleared.
What Other Countries Offer!
Below are some of the payouts by other countries, based on information compiled by CNBC from national Olympic committees, sports associations and local reports.
Highest Payouts
Hong Kong and Singapore offer the highest payouts for their Olympic victors.
Cash incentives for Hong Kong athletes competing in Paris jumped 20% from the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Gold medalists will receive 6 million Hong Kong dollars ($768,000), Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-ki announced early July. Silver and bronze medalists stand to earn HK$3 million and HK$1.5 million respectively.
This year, the city is slated for hefty pay outs due to an early crop of medals in swimming and fencing. Vivian Kong won Hong Kong’s first medal at the Paris Games, topping the podium in the women’s epee individual event. Fellow fencer Cheung Ka-long also won gold in the men’s individual foil event, while swimmer Siobhan Bernadette Haughey bagged a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter freestyle.
Singapore gives Olympic medalists 1 million Singapore dollars ($745,300) for gold, SG$500,000 for silver and SG$250,000 for bronze. The city-state has only dispensed the top cash bonus to one athlete: Joseph Schooling. The now retired swimmer defeated the United States’ Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics in 2016 to win gold.
Israel, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. Israel is reportedly offering a million Israeli shekels ($270,537) for a gold medal, marking a 50% jump from what was offered for the Tokyo Games.
Host country France has also reportedly bumped up its cash incentives. Gold medalists are slated to receive 80,000 euros ($86,528) — 15,000 euros more than what it offered at the Tokyo Olympics.
Some extend rewards to athletes outside of the podium places. Germany’s Sports Aid Foundation doles out cash prizes up to eighth place finishers at the Olympic Games. Gold medalists receive 20,000 euros ($22,000).
India’s Olympic athletes receive monetary rewards from both the government and its national sports body, according to local media. The government give gold medalists 7.5 million rupees ($90,000) while the Indian Olympic Association separately offers 10 million rupees ($120,000).
Cars, Cows & Apartments
In addition to or in lieu of cash, some athletes stand to receive additional winnings, such as apartments and cars from both governments and private companies.
Kazakhstan’s Olympic athletes reportedly can earn $250,000 for a gold medal, $150,000 for silver and $75,000 for bronze. The state also doles out apartments to medalists.
Local media report Malaysia’s National Sports Council offers a reward of one million ringgit ($215,563) for individual gold medalists, while silver medalists are expected to get 300,000 ringgit and bronze medalists will be rewarded 100,000 ringgit. Some private companies in Malaysia reportedly offered other incentives, such as luxury-serviced apartments or additional cash.
All athletes who manage to secure a podium finish will also be given a “foreign-made car,” according to a local media report of remarks from Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
On top of a 63 million Korean won windfall ($43,288), local media report South Korea’s gold medalists are also given the option of either a lifelong monthly pension of a million won, or a lump sum of 67.2 million won.
A silver medalist earns 35 million won, and a bronze medalist gets 25 million won.
Some athletes could also receive other gifts like free drinks and transportation.
Besides 200,000 Polish zloty ($50,374) from the Polish Olympic Committee, Klaudia Zwolińska is also reportedly poised to receive a painting, a holiday voucher, a scholarship and a diamond for claiming silver in the women’s canoe slalom K1 competition.
Olympians have often been gifted quirky tokens of appreciation.
A local chain pledged that athletes who represented Malaysia at the Tokyo Games would get free food and teh tarik for life, according to local media. Teh tarik is a hot milk tea beverage that is popular throughout Southeast Asia.
Japanese table tennis player Kasumi Ishikawa was gifted 100 bags of rice after winning a silver medal at the Tokyo Games. Indonesian badminton gold medalists Apriyani Rahayu and Greysia Polii were reportedly bequeathed five cows, a meatball restaurant and a new house.
Athletes from Great Britain, Norway and a handful of other countries do not receive any direct cash bonus for placing on the podium.
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