Canada’s Paralympic Athletes Get Paid $0 For Winning Gold Medals While Olympians Get $20K

Team Canada's Paralympic athletes do not get paid for winning medals at the Winter or Summer Paralympic Games, the Canadian Paralympic Committee has confirmed.

In a statement shared with Narcity on Wednesday, February 9, a spokesperson for the Paralympic Committee confirmed that Paralympic competitors from Canada do not receive any type of performance awards in either Games.

In comparison, those competing for Team Canada at both the Summer and Winter Olympics can get $20,000 for each gold medal, $15,000 for each silver medal and $10,000 for every bronze medal.

In Canada, it's the Canadian Olympic Committee's Athlete Excellence Fund that rewards Olympians for winning a spot on the podium.

Speaking during the Summer Olympics in 2021, the Paralympic Committee told Narcity that there is no "similar fund" for Canada's Paralympians right now.

"We definitely support the idea, and strive to be in a position in the future to offer financial bonuses to medallists," a representative said at the time.

Speaking in 2021, Paralympic swimmer Aurélie Rivard told Narcity that this is a "Canada problem," as other countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, Belarus and more award their Paralympic medallists hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.

Rivard has competed in multiple Games and has taken home five gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze.

""We put in the same work and the same effort but at the moment we get about a tenth of what the Olympic athletes get," she said. "But, we have to remember that the COC has more money than the CPC and that is part of the problem."

Ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced that all American Paralympic medalists will earn the same as their Olympic counterparts.

Previously, Paralympic athletes from the United States received US$7,500 for gold, US$5,250 for silver and US$3,750 for a bronze. As of 2021, American Paralympians and Olympians won $37,500, $22,500 and $15,000 for each respective medal.

Around the same time, Australia announced that Paralympians representing the country would be paid the same as their Olympic counterparts.