Here’s How Different Countries Reward Their Athletes For Winning A Gold Medal.
By
Editorial Staff in
Sports
On 21st August 2016
Years -- no, really, lifetimes -- of training later, Olympic athletes finally get a chance to show off their stuff and compete in the biggest athletic games in the world. If they are somehow able to outshine their equally talented opponents, they may even go home with a little bit of bronze, silver, and gold to show off. Those medals are symbolic of all their hard work and dedication -- but what is their actual, tangible value?
It turns out, each medal is worth a monetary prize awarded to the athletes, given to them at the same time. You may be surprised to learn that despite the years of hard work it takes to earn one of them, the financial side of things isn't as plentiful as you'd suspect. Find out which countries award financial prizes to their Olympians, and which let them simply go home with the glory of knowing they've won.
#1 Top achieving athletes get either a gold, silver, or bronze medal.
Here is the actual value of the medals:
Gold - The medal is worth $600. The gold medal actually has just 1% of actual gold. It's 92.5 % silver and 6.16% copper.
Silver - The medal is worth $325. It consists of 92.5% silver and 7.2% copper.
Bronze - The medal is worth a mere $3. It is 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.
#2 What most people don't know is that those medals are taxable.
Yep, that's right: When it comes time to fill out your taxes, you've got to include those medals as earnings.
#3 Singapore gives the highest rewards to its athletes.
The country awards $734,000 to gold medal winners, $367,000 to silver medal winners and $183,500 to bronze winners. That's a whole lot of cash, no matter which way you cut it.
#4 On the other side of things, the UK offers no cash prize at all.
In fact, it's the only country that lets its athletes go home empty-handed -- well, besides the medal, that is.
#5 Some countries offer cash prizes in installments.
Thailand gives its Olympians a sum of $314,000 over a period of 20 years. The Philippines does the same, only the amount is $237,000 dollars.
#6 Malaysia does something really wild.
In this country, champions are given an actual bar of gold, and a huge one at that. In fact, the bar is worth over $600,000.
#7 Interestingly enough, bigger countries give their athletes smaller winnings.
France, China, U.S.A and Germany, for example, offer a very less amount to the medal winners. Small countries such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan actually pay more.
#8 But no matter what the payday, winning at the Olympics is still a pretty big deal.
Big or small money, you can't help but notice that for most of these players, winning is what they've been waiting for their entire lives.
