What's a medal win worth? Here's how much some countries are paying their Olympic medallists (2024)

Untold amounts of blood, sweat and tears go into getting to the top step of the Olympic podium.

For many, it's the culmination of at least four years' relentless dedication to perfection, above all else.

A gold medal can mean a lot of things: relief, reward, promotion and a level of fame.

But what's the economic pay-off at the end of all that struggle?

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Well, that kind of depends on where you're from.

The Olympics as an event are born on the age-old ethos of amateurism — meaning that for more than 100 years, those that competed for gold couldn't be paid in it.

In short, for the most part you win a medal, but that's it.

As a result, athletes generally rely on things like sponsorship and marketing endorsem*nts to pay the bills.

Some are toiling in the strive for Olympic perfection while holding down a separate nine-to-five job like the rest of us.

But while the majority of athletes don't receive prize money for winning a medal from the International Olympics Committee, that doesn't mean their host nations aren't splurging on them.

What do we pay our medal winners?

Like a lot of countries, we don't pay our athletes for competing.

We pay them for winning.

Australia, via the AOC, doles out $20,000 for gold medals, with $15,000 set aside for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Swimmers, rowers, and volleyballers benefit further from Australia's largest private performance fund, backed by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, which pays the same amount for medals and an extra $30,000 for world records.

The athletes only get one payment for their best result, and it's conditional on them continuing to train for the next Olympics.

And that pay is much needed.

Last August, the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) released its "Running on Empty" report, which revealed almost half of Australia's elite athletes earned less than $23,000 a year.

It's enough to put them below the poverty line, according to the ASF.

What about other countries?

There are some truly crazy offers out there for Olympians.

Hong Kong, which competes independently of China, offers gold medal winners an eye-watering $1.21 million, with silver receiving $605,000 and bronze $320,535.

Similarly, Singapore pays gold medallists $1.18 million with sliding scales of payment back to bronze.

The host nation, France, upped its prize money this year to $136,000 for gold, while the USA's Project Gold pays its athletes around $58,755 per gold.

And it's not just about cash.

At the Tokyo Games, Indonesian badminton gold medallists Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu were reportedly promised five cows, a meatball restaurant, and a new house, according to Reuters.

And in Kazakhstan, gold medallists allegedly earn a swathe of cash and an apartment from the state.

South Korea offers its medallists pensions in addition to prize money.

Each nation also chucks its own stipulations on payment regarding all number of things from training to taxes and future Games.

Here's the current medal tally, for those wanting a sticky beak.

Show me the money

Not only does it depend which country you represent, it also — for the first time — matters what sport you compete in.

This year, World Athletics has broken more than 128 years of history and agreed to pay its 48 gold medal-winning athletes just shy of $77,000 each.

Payments for silver and bronze medallists are planned to start at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

It makes track and field the first sport to introduce financial rewards for winners.

Are the medals at least made of real gold?

Well, kind of.

The Paris 2024 gold medal contains at least 6 grams of gold, plus a lot of silver.

Every medal also has a small piece of the Eiffel Tower in them, which sure is something.

The hexagonal-shaped token on each medal is forged out of scrap metal from the monument, so medal-winning athletes will literally be taking home a piece of Paris come the end of this year's Games.

In-line with the Paris Olympic committee's pledge to remain as green as possible, the gold and silver used to make the medals are 100 per cent recycled.

The alloy used for the bronze medals comes from scraps provided by the medals' manufacturer.

Is that all they get?

You have probably seen the medal-winning Olympians in Paris being handed a small box in addition to their medals.

Inside is the official Olympic poster of Paris 2024, designed by Ugo Gattoni, showing a cartoon version of Paris with a picture of a big red Eiffel Tower and the Seine, surrounded by sports taking place.

Medallists also receive a special stuffed Olympic Phryges doll, the official mascot of the Games.

For those wondering, the Phryges is the little red triangle guy and is meant to commemorate the Phrygian bonnet, a hat that symbolises the French Revolution.

The Paralympic mascot is basically the same, but with a prosthetic leg.

Those that finish outside of the podium places are also looked after, with the first eight athletes in each event awarded with a diploma, which I presume is a certificate of sorts rather than any academic achievement.

The committee also said each athlete's name is "announced to the public", as is Olympic tradition.

But they're not all amateurs, are they?

No. Professional athletes were only welcomed into the Games in recent years. A decision not made without controversy.

The IOC allowed professional athletes to compete in tennis, soccer and ice hockey at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Basketballers were then added to the fray the follow Games, opening the door for America's Dream Team to dominate from 1992 onwards.

Golfers like Spain's John Rahm, US basketball superstars Lebron James and Stef Curry, and Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo are among the Forbes top 10 richest athletes that are taking part in the Paris games.

• All figures have been converted to $AUD and are correct as of the time of publishing.