Canadian athletes get money for Olympic medals — Here's how that compares to other countries

Canadian athletes who win medals at the 2026 Olympics will earn thousands of dollars.

Many countries also offer rewards for medalists, but how does the pay compare?

Through the Canadian Olympic Committee's Athlete Excellence Fund, which is a support and reward program, athletes get bonuses for gold, silver and bronze medals.

If athletes compete in multiple events and win multiple medals, they'll get money for each medal.

Performance awards are the same whether the athlete is from a team sport or an individual sport, so team members won't have to split the prize money.

Here's how much money Team Canada athletes make for winning medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics:

• gold — $20,000
• silver — $15,000
• bronze — $10,000

Not all countries have revealed what athletes will be rewarded with if they win a medal at the 2026 Olympics, but a few have shared that information already.

So, let's get into what some nations offer Olympic podium finishing athletes and how much those amounts are in Canadian dollars.

These are the Olympic medal incentives for Australia's athletes:

• gold — AU$20,000 (CA$19,173.90)
• silver — AU$15,000 (CA$14,380.42)
• bronze — AU$10,000 (CA$9,586.95)

Croatia offers these rewards for athletes who get medals in the Olympics:

• gold — €41,000 (CA$66,087.90)
• silver — €26,000 (CA$41,909.40)
• bronze — €18,500 (CA$29,820.15)

Czechia is awarding these medal bonuses for athletes who get on the podium in the Milano Cortina Olympics:

• gold — CZK 2,400,000 (CA$159,450.53)
• silver — CZK 1,800,000 (CA$119,587.90)
• bronze — CZK 1,200,000 (CA$79,725.26)

Here are the medal bonuses for athletes competing with Estonia in the Olympics:

• gold — €100,000 (CA$161,190)
• silver — €70,000 (CA$120,892.50)
• bronze — €45,000 (CA$72,535.50)

Athletes from Germany will make this much money for winning medals at Milano Cortina:

• gold — €30,000 (CA$48,357)
• silver — €20,000 (CA$32,238)
• bronze — €10,000 (CA$16,119)

New Zealand offers medal bonuses for individual events (with four or fewer athletes) and team events (with five or more athletes) in the Olympics. Here are the bonus amounts:

• gold — NZ$5,000 (CA$4,093.50) per individual, NZ$25,000 (CA$20,467.50) per team
• silver — NZ$3,000 (CA$2,456.10) per individual, NZ$15,000 (CA$12,280.50) per team
• bronze — NZ$2,000 (CA$1,637.40) per individual, NZ$10,000 (CA$8,187) per team

Team USA athletes get these monetary awards for winning Olympic medals through the Operation Gold program:

• gold — US$37,500 (CA$50,817.75)
• silver — US$22,500 (CA$30,490.65)
• bronze — US$15,000 (CA$20,327.10)

So, the medal bonuses for Canadian athletes who get on the podium at Milano Cortina aren't the most lucrative.

But some countries don't offer athletes any monetary rewards for winning medals at the Olympics!