People stunned by ‘low’ amount Olympic athletes get paid
People have been left well and truly stunned by the ‘low’ amount Olympic athletes get paid.
The historical Olympic Games were first celebrated way back when in the 8th century B.C. and, since then, the globe has been celebrating Olympians and their impeccable talent, skillset and sheer determination to be the very best of the best.
However, it seems that some people are beyond baffled by the annual salary the world-star athletes are paid. Take a look:
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We all know that discussing salary can be a tad taboo - but no one's denying it's an interesting topic of conversation.
But, fortunately, one bloke who goes by the handle @howmuchthough took to TikTok to share with his 196k followers exactly what the Olympian athletes take home as a base salary every year.
The chap began by explaining that in the Tokyo Olympics, the US rewarded each gold medal athlete with a staggering $37,500 reward.
Silver medalists would receive $22,500 and while Bronze medalists got $15,000.
However, countries that are 'expected to get fewer medals' can afford to 'pay the athletes even more' with 'Hong Kong paying gold medalists $644,000 each'.
Not too shabby at all.
And then there's the UK.
The TikToker went on: "We pay our medalists a mind boggling, groundbreaking, truly crazy perhaps inspirational summer of $0."
Yikes.
Outside of medal money, it can be 'pretty tough' to make a decent living as an Olympic athlete.
He added: "Obviously the likes of Usain Bolt have no issues. He was making over $30 million a year at his peak, but for less well known athletes, it can be a struggle.
"Countries may pay their athletes a stipend, with Great Britain paying some athletes around $36,000 a year to cover their expenses.
"On top of this, you may get companies sponsoring you or your team."
But, if you're not in limelight, 'you'd be lucky to make over $10,000 a year from these' - that's if you end up getting one at all.
"The sad truth is if you're in a sport such as archery or speed skating, and you haven't won an Olympic medal yet, you're probably going to have to get another job to fund your Olympic dreams," he added.
The video has since gone viral after clocking up more than 920.2k views on the platform alongside hundreds of comments from people eager to share their reactions to the somewhat surprising information.
Many were outright shocked by the amount the US pay gold medallists, with one TikTok user writing: "37k is lowkey crazy low..."
"Imagine training 4 years for $37k," hit out a second.
A third sympathised: "It's crazy how you can be one of the best in your sport but you get nothing for it, just sad tbh."
Others, however, took the opportunity to clarify the situation for anyone disheartened by the salary figure.
"There's also other games and sponsorship," pointed out one TikTok user.
A second chimed in: "Olympic athletes make most of their money with brand deals and sponsorships."
"Yeah but the sponsors are actually so high," echoed a third.
Some clearly weren't too fussed by the allegedly 'low' number at all, with one person admitting: "Wouldn't mind it at all going around the world all expenses paid doing what I love!"
"[They] do it for national pride not for money," claimed another.
A final TikTok user praised: "We don't offer monetary incentive yet we get so many winners. Amazing."
What do you make of it?
Rhiannon Ingle