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Athlete payment has become a contentious issue at the London Olympics. Many American athletes have turned to Twitter to protest the restrictions on their income and sponsors, and additional frustration undoubtedly stems from the fact that organizers and executives are grabbing cash hand over hand. In fact, 83 employees of the United States Olympic Committee have reportable compensation in excess of $100,000.
The vast majority of Olympic athletes are lucky to make a fraction of that amount, and one survey suggests that half of the American track and field athletes who rank in the top ten of their events make less than $15,000 per year. No wonder why Sanya Richards-Ross has been so vocal about changing the rules regarding Olympic athlete payment and sponsorships.
But Richards-Ross, one of the favorites in her events, should also be able to capitalize on one of the few ways that Olympic athletes can supplement their earnings: medal bonuses.
Most countries offer bonus rewards to athletes for each medal they win, and for Americans a gold medal is worth $25,000. Silver and bronze are worth payouts of $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. The 18 medals won thus far have a total bonus value of $305,000. It’s a nice bonus for America’s unpaid athletes, though the payout values have not increased for a decade. After adjusting for inflation, the medal bonuses are worth $5,430 less than they were ten years ago.
The United States is also far from the top of the payout list. One of the largest medal bonuses is offered by Italy, which will pay more than $182,000 for a gold medal. Russia’s medal rewards are also quite rich, and the nation’s gold medal winners will collect $135,000. Even Russian bronze medalists will take home $54,400, more than double the payout for American gold. Neighboring Ukraine has been considering an increase to its already rich payout scale: $100,000 for gold, $75,000 for silver and $50,000 for bronze.
Even Ghana promised its gold medal winners a payout of $20,000, not far behind the American reward, though the country’s National Sports Authority has come under fire because no Ghanaian athletes are expected to win and the prize money could have instead been put towards athlete training and preparation.
Perhaps surprisingly, the worst medal bonus is paid by Great Britain. Or rather, not paid. The host nation does not pay a performance bonus to medal-winning athletes, which is especially disappointing for the many British athletes predicted to medal in the next two weeks.
For some lucky athletes, there are also bonuses being offered outside of direct national payments. In Malaysia, a gold medal could be worth more than $600,000. Andrew Kam, owner of a Kuala Lumpur gold mine, has offered a gold bar valued at two million Malaysian ringgit, or about $640,000, to any Malaysian badminton player able to win a gold medal. If multiple players take home gold, they will split the bar’s value.
American wrestlers and Australian swimmers are two other groups of athletes able to reap additional benefits with a trip to the podium. The Living the Dream Medal Fund is partially managed by USA Wrestling and offers American wrestlers cash bonuses for medal wins at both the Olympics and World Championships. If one of the 17 American wrestlers claims gold in London, he or she will be rewarded with a $250,000 bonus. Silver and bronze are worth $50,000 and $25,000, respectively.
Swimming Australia, which oversees the nation’s top swimmers, implemented a new funding deal this year that will pay more than $36,000 to gold medal winners in individual events; those involved with relays that win gold will share more than $63,000. Those payouts are in addition to the nation’s base medal bonuses, worth about $20,000 for gold, $13,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.
Medal bonuses are no substitute for guaranteed pay or the ability to endorse products during the Olympics, but they are a welcome form of compensation for the Games’ top athletes. Of course, those medal-winning top athletes are also the ones most able to capitalize on their success with subsequent endorsement deals, so medal bonuses will unfortunately do little to truly help the athletes most in need of financial support. At least they have their Twitter protests, so long as they’re not shut down.
Article originally published on Forbes.com by Chris Smith - 07/31/2012
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