Olympians From This Country Get Paid The Most For Winning A Gold Medal & It's Not The US
What's the right price for a 🥇?
Winning an Olympic gold medal is a pretty big reward on its own, but some countries are sweetening the pot for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing — and not all of them are paying the same amount.
Many countries have introduced so-called "excellence" plans to give athletes a hefty bonus for winning an Olympic medal, in part to thank them for all the training and effort that goes into doing so.
You might assume that Team USA would pay the most for Olympic glory, but while they do pay well, they're not the country offering the biggest reward at the Summer and Winter Games.
The USA pays its athletes $37,500 for bringing home a gold medal.
Singapore, on the other hand, offers to pay its athletes up to $1 million in local currency for an individual Olympic gold medal, which is equivalent to USD $740,000 (almost CAD$1 million).
Canada looks like a slacker by comparison, with a bonus of $20,000 for gold-medal winners.
Bear in mind that the Canadian prize is in Canadian dollars while the American is obviously in USD, so the gap is even greater.
In other words, an American gold medal is approximately CAD $48,000, which is more than double the Canadian prize.
Both countries are expected to take home a nice haul of medals at the Winter Games in Beijing this year, but there's no chance that an athlete will be winning Singapore's $1-million prize this time, because it doesn't have anyone competing at these Games.
And while it's gold that everyone wants, there are also rewards for other medals. The U.S., for example, gives a US$22,500 bonus for silver and US$15,000 for bronze.
Similarly, Canada also has an award system for its athletes, giving silver medalists CAD$15,000 and bronze medalists CAD$10,000.
All that money is considered a bonus, and it's not included with whatever funding and sponsorship deals the athletes have in place.
Although Canada's bonuses may seem a bit small compared to some countries, they're still a lot better than nothing.
Several nations don't even hand out a bonus for a medal, including Great Britain, Sweden, Norway and Croatia, according to The New York Times.
In those cases, it seems, patriotism and success are their only rewards.