Rio cash bonuses for gold Winning a gold medal
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Winning a gold medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience. You can’t put a price on it. But, depending on where you’re from, you might expect a financial windfall.
When swimmer Joseph Schooling edged out Michael Phelps and a tight field in the 100-meter butterfly event, he became the first athlete from Singapore to win a gold medal -- and he will be the first to earn the country’s $753,000 gold-medal bonus. That’s nearly 30 times more money than Michael Phelps or any other U.S. athlete would take home for winning gold.
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With its population of 5.5 million (versus, for example, New York City’s 8.17 million), the island city-state Singapore has now won a grand total of five Olympic medals: Schooling’s gold, a pair of bronzes in table tennis in 2012, a silver in 1960 in weight lifting, and a silver in table tennis in 2008.
In contrast, the U.S. gong into the Rio games had won 1,071 gold medals and 2,698 total medals since the 1896 games in Athens — the kickoff of the Olympics’ modern era. Add to that the 38 gold, 35 silver and 32 bronze medals earned in Rio through Friday.
Other countries, including the U.K., don’t offer cash bonuses to medalists.
As competition continues in Rio, executives with the International Olympic Committee and at national sports federations have come under scrutiny over how little of the money generated by the Games trickles down to the athletes.
Of course, top athletes in the most popular sports can rack up millions through endorsements, sponsorships and paid appearances. Gymnast Gabby Douglas has a reported net worth of $3 million, while swimmer Michael Phelps boasts a reported net worth of $55 million.
Statista rounded up the prize money being given out by 12 countries to their winning athletes at the Olympic Games in Rio. The values are converted to U.S. dollars. A closer look at countries’ gold-medal bonuses follows ...


