Rio Olympics 2016 are underway with all its glory and controversies. Athletes from around 200 countries will be fighting it out for medals in 26 sports. Have you ever wondered what is at stake for medal winners ? “DO Olympic medalists receive cash prizes along with the medals ?” Well, in most of the cases yes but the athletes don’t receive any prize money from Olympics committee but its their national Olympic federation who award prizes which are disclosed before the tournament. Lets take a look at cash prizes awarded by different federations.
So the cash prize awarded to athletes are different from country to country and the usual big guns like United States only offer around $25,000 for winning the gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for Bronze while Azerbaijan award $510,000 to the winner of gold, $255,000 for silver and $130,000 for bronze.
But you have to take into account that athletes who wins Gold for USA, UK, Australia etc can hit a jackpot in terms of endorsement deals which can be much more cash rewarding compared to just the one off payment. Before we explain which federations pays the most we take a look at how much the Olympic medals are worth ?
Value of Summer Olympics Medals:
- Gold: $600 (The gold medal consist of just 1% of actual gold, 92.5% silver and 6.16% copper).
- Silver: $325 (While in silver medal, the gold is replaced by more copper rest meterial is the same like gold medal)
- Bronze: $3 (Bronze medal however is 97% copper and 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin)
Thats the actual worth of raw material used in the medal but of course if athletes were to sell/auction their medals they will get alot more than just the face value of material. See Also: All-Time Olympics Medal Table
Cash Money Rewards for Olympic Medalists:
Like we mentioned before Olympic medalists do get cash rewards from almost all the the national olympic federations and here are some of the highest paying federations in oympics. Most of the countries award lump sum payments but some countries like Philippines and Thailand award cash prized which are staple income over 20 years. Only a handful of countries ward cash prized to silver and bronze medalists while most federations only award prized for gold winners.
| NO# | COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| 1 | Singapore | S$1 million (US $757,000) | $370,000 | $189,000 |
| 2 | Malaysia | A solid gold bar worth (around $600,000) | $300,000 | $150,000 |
| 3 | Azerbaijan | $510,000 (shared by athlete and coach if any) | $255,000 | $130,000 |
| 4 | Kazakhstan | $250,000 | $150,000 | $75,000 |
| 5 | Thailand | $314,000 (over 20 years period) | ||
| 6 | Philippines | $237,000 (over 20 years period) | ||
| 7 | Kyrgyzstan | $200,000 | ||
| 8 | Latvia | $190,000 | ||
| 9 | Italy | $189,800 | $95,000 | $50,000 |
| 10 | Uzbekistan | $150,000 | ||
| 11 | Belarus | $150,000 | ||
| 12 | Ukraine | $150,000 | ||
| 13 | Russia | $180,000 | $90,000 | $45,000 |
| 14 | Australia | $126,000 | ||
| 15 | Tajikistan | $63,000 | ||
| 16 | France | $65,000 | ||
| 17 | China | $31,400 | ||
| 18 | USA | $25,000 | ||
| 19 | Germany | $19,500 | ||
| 20 | India | RS 1 Crore ($150,000) | $80,000 | $45,000 |
| 21 | Brazil | Around $11,000 for every medal regardless of the color of medal (every memeber of Football team will get $100,000 for winning gold) | ||
| 22 | Sweden | No cash prized for winning medals (Sweden Olympics committe supports athletes from 6 year old to all the way professional levels) | ||
| 23 | United Kingdom | no cash prized awarded by Britain’s Olympic Committee | ||
| OTHER COUNTRIES | Almost all the countries award cash prized to medalist in some form |
highest is not Azerbajian but is actually Singapore. This is the reward for Singapore’s medalist
Individual Event:
Gold: S$1,000,000
Silver: S$500,000
Bronze: S$250,000
Team Event worth more, usually is 1.5 times more than individual rewards, but it will be shared among the team members.
Where does it say that Azerbaijan is the highest?
200 countries are participating in Rio Olympics? I guess 5 countries are from other planet. Earth only has 195 countries.
It says ‘around’; like almost, more or less.
It’s called Uzbekistan in English, not Uzbikstan, and it’s the greatest country on Earth, like U.A.E. on steroids in terms of financial and social benefits for citizens, with more individual freedoms than European countries and more liberal gun laws than USA. Long live Uzbekistan and its great president!
I guess they have changed the name after your complain feedback)
Lol
How do I get citizenship? (-:
Compare U.A.E. and Uzbekistan-
Uzbek: GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate
• Total $183.933 billion[13] (62)
• Per capita $5,939[13] (125th)
Uzbek: GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate
• Total $68.190 billion[13] (70th)
• Per capita $2,202[13] (130th)
U.A.E: GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate
• Total $647.823 billion[3] (32nd)
• Per capita $67,616[3] (7th)
U.A.E. GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate
• Total $345.483 billion[3] (28th)
• Per capita $36,060[3] (19th)
Hardly statistics to brag about…not to mention the unpaid labor and child labor issues. Per capita is more than 12-18 times higher in U.A.E. Landlocked from all directions.
Non-governmental human rights watchdogs, such as IHF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well as Department of State and Council of the European Union define Uzbekistan as “an authoritarian state with limited civil rights”[41] and express profound concern about “wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights”.[42] According to the reports, the most widespread violations are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms: of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly. It has also been reported that forced sterilization of rural Uzbek women has been sanctioned by the government.[43][44] The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human rights activists and political activists, including members of the banned opposition parties.
No thanks. Obviously you’ve been brainwashed into thinking this is the best place in the world.
Ask Ronda Rousey about how her medal in judo worked out for her in Beijing (or read her book). She made her fame and fortune in the private realm of MMA/UFC.
Kazakhstan is most great country. In terms of won medal qty and lowest population
UK Olympic committee provide all the financial support to athletes from very young age to all they when they become professionals.
You dont know what you talking about. Indian Railway athletes competing in Olympics 2016 will get max RS 1crore for gold (around $75,000). RS 50 lakh for silver and Rs 30 lakh for Bronze.
Around 3,72,500Usd( Twenty Five Million INR) rewarde by State government to bronze medalist sakshi malik.. Agreed with hitesh
Award get to sakshi malik from goverment (Copied from Wikipedia..)
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2016) – highest sporting honour of India[22]
Multiple cash prizes totaling over ₹5 crore (US$740,000) from the Indian Railways, the Indian Olympic Association, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Government of Delhi,[23] various state governments, including Haryana,[24] Madhya Pradesh,[25] Uttar Pradesh, and from private bodies such as the JSW Group.[26]
Promotion to gazetted officer rank by her employer, the Indian Railways
The second is not Malaysia, but Indonesia.
Russia is paying for gold 4 Mil Ruble which is around 54K EUR, 2.5 Mil Ruble for Silver and 1.7 Mil for bronze.
Hey i am ranjan