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Cash bonuses and bizarre rewards Olympic athletes receive for winning medals at the Games

Home> News> Sport

Updated 15:36 1 Aug 2024 GMT+1Published 15:37 1 Aug 2024 GMT+1

Cash bonuses and bizarre rewards Olympic athletes receive for winning medals at the Games

Some nations offer their athletes a number of lucrative incentives for competing at the Olympics

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Featured Image Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images/Michael Steele/Getty Images

Topics: Olympics, Sport, Money

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

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@Anish_Vij

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Some countries are being very generous to their athletes during this year's Games by offering lucrative incentives for taking home gold, silver or bronze.

While you'd think that an Olympic medal would be enough to motivate an athlete, some home nations are giving them even more of a reason to go that extra mile.

The way it works is a nation's Olympic committee and government sports ministry will sometimes award prizes to athletes who win medals.

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Winning gold also means winning a lot more. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Winning gold also means winning a lot more. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

And after Forbes exclusively reached out to all of the 206 countries and territories participating, they revealed that 33 will actually award cash prizes.

Out of that number, 15 said they will pay more than $100,000 (£77,750) to athletes who win the top prize.

Hong Kong, for instance, will award a gold medalist an eye-watering $768,000 (£597,300) and $380,000 (£295,500) for a silver medal.

Israel is also said to be offering a mega $275,000 (£213,900) for gold medalists and $192,000 (£149,000) for silver, along with $137,000 (£106,000) for bronze.

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Meanwhile, the likes of Serbia will give their gold, silver and bronze medal winners a national pension, which will start from the age of 40.

Serbia's Novac Djokovic is in luck if he wins gold. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Serbia's Novac Djokovic is in luck if he wins gold. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

As for the UK and Team GB, our athletes are not previewed to any bonuses, but are instead given grants.

Though the British Athletics happens to pay medal bonuses that are independent of the government.

A total prize pot of $2.4 million (£1.87 million) from the International Olympic Committee’s revenue share allocation is received by World Athletics every four years.

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On the decision to award £38,700 in prize money to gold medallists, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe explained: "The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games.

“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport.

The British Athletics pays medal bonuses that are independent of the government. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
The British Athletics pays medal bonuses that are independent of the government. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

“We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our Member Federations, which saw us distribute an extra $5 million (£3.9 million) a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games.

“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

Countries that pay most for winning gold

  • Hong Kong - £587,300
  • Israel - £213,000
  • Serbia - £169,900
  • Malaysia - £166,800
  • Italy - £152,800
  • Lithuania - £141,900
  • Moldova - £133,300
  • Latvia - £120,800
  • Hungary - £120,000
  • Bulgaria - £108,400
  • Ukraine - £97,500
  • Kosovo - £93,550
  • Estonia - £85,000
  • Czech Republic - £80,300
  • Spain - £79,500
  • More than 100 Paris Olympics athletes 'return medals' after the Games
  • Real reason Olympics athletes bite their medals after winning
  • Paralympics medals have unique design for blind athletes competing at the Games
  • People stunned to discover where Olympic athletes are actually swimming during games

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