• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • FFS PRODUCTIONS
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
How much Olympic athletes get paid and it might shock you

Home> News> Sport

Published 11:17 29 Jul 2024 GMT+1

How much Olympic athletes get paid and it might shock you

The 2024 Paris Olympics will have prize money for the winning athletes

Tom Earnshaw

Tom Earnshaw

Regarded as the most prestigious sporting event in the calendar, the 2024 Paris Olympics will see hundreds more gold medals handed out to some of the greatest athletes on the planet.

From diving to cycling and tennis to breakdancing, it will see athletes compete across 32 different sports in their quest for the top prize in the French capital city.

And for the first time ever, there's more at stake with the money to be won upped significantly from previous events. But that's not for everyone, with the relationship between prize money and the Olympics a complicated one.

Do Olympic athletes get paid?

The Olympics has a bit of a weird relationship with money.

Officially, the International Olympic Committee doesn't pay any of the athletes directly. The committee also don't give out prize money for those who place in the medal positions.

Advert

There's a reason for this, with organisers saying the philosophy of the Olympic Games is one of amateur competition.

This isn't about commercialism, they say, but rather focusing solely on sporting successes.

The mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics (Kevin Voigt/GettyImages)
The mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics (Kevin Voigt/GettyImages)

How do athletes survive?

Athletes very often get funding from their national Olympic committee to fund their lifestyles and training regimes.

Advert

There are also sponsors and endorsements which come to those who have a wider appeal.

The likes of Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, received $10 million a year through a partnership with Puma; a deal that continued into his retirement.

The vast majority of deals wont be anywhere near this, though.

In the UK, the likes of Jack Laugher - a gold medal winning athlete for Team GB - gets £28,000 of funding to keep his Olympic dreams alive.

Only certain sports will have prize money up for grabs (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
Only certain sports will have prize money up for grabs (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Changes for 2024 and new prize money

For the 2024 Paris Olympics, athletes will be given prizes for winning a gold medal.

Advert

It wont be for every athlete sadly. Instead, it'll just go to those competing in the athletics events.

World Athletics is funding this, with $50,000 (£38,800) given to every gold medallist.

The International Boxing Association is following in the footsteps of athletics by also offering prize money.

We're talking $50,000 for golds, $25,000 (£19,400) for silver and $12,500 (£9,700) for bronze.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations has come out against the money on offer, saying it 'undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the Games'.

Advert

In a statement, it said: "One cannot and should not put a price on an Olympic gold medal and, in many cases, Olympic medalists indirectly benefit from commercial endorsements.

"This disregards the less privileged athletes lower down the final standings."

Featured Image Credit: BERTRAND GUAY / AFP via Getty Images / Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Topics: Money, Olympics, World News, Boxing

Tom Earnshaw
Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible Group in 2024, currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible, UNILAD, SPORTbible, Tyla, UNILAD Tech, and GAMINGbible. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

X

@TREarnshaw

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

7 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
14 hours ago
  • Handout
    7 mins ago

    Mum of British boy who went missing in Greece 35 years ago thinks she knows what happened to him

    British toddler Ben Needham was 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos on 24 July, 1991

    News
  • Getty Stock Images
    an hour ago

    Real reason the school year starts in September and not January explained

    No, it's not random there's actually a reason behind it

    News
  • Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
    2 hours ago

    Donald Trump hits out at UK’s ‘great stupidity’ in Greenland debate

    He's hit out at a deal he previously endorsed

    News
  • Caylo Seals/Getty Images
    14 hours ago

    Nicki Minaj aims homophobic rant at journalist reporting on ICE

    She called him a homophobic slur

    News
  • Insane payslip leaks revealing how much pilots actually get paid monthly
  • NASA astronaut reveals surprising truth when asked how much they get paid
  • Expert reveals how everyone has one narcissistic tendency and it might shock you
  • Amazon driver explains exactly how much they get paid each day regardless of how many parcels they deliver