The Olympics are one of the biggest sporting events in the world, but most Olympic medallists won’t be going home with any extra prize money.
The International Olympic Committee does not award prize money to athletes who win Olympic medals, but some sports federations and national governments can choose to pay prize money to Olympic athletes based on their performance.
Earlier this year, World Athletics announced its intention to pay each gold medallist $50,000, making athletics the first Olympic sport to offer prize money to Olympic medallists.
A number of countries, including Italy, Hungary, Morocco, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, are also embarking on the path of monetary easing this summer.
However, many countries offer non-monetary rewards and incentives to athletes who win Olympic medals, ranging from property to livestock. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the non-monetary rewards offered by their home countries to Olympic medallists:
- Indonesia
Indonesia is known for providing livestock and real estate to Olympic medallists. In 2021, a badminton gold medallist Glacia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu Participants were promised a total prize of about $350,000, plus five cows, a new home and a meatball restaurant. - Malaysia
According to the Malay Mail, Malaysian athletes who win medals at the Olympics will be awarded foreign-made cars, and the arrangement came about after an unnamed car company approached the Road to Gold committee. - Japan-Kazakhstan Relations
The Kazakhstan Ministry of Culture and Sports will award new apartments to athletes who stand on the podium in Paris: gold medallists will receive a three-room apartment, silver medallists a two-room apartment, and bronze medallists a one-room apartment. - China
China has offered a variety of non-monetary prizes to Olympic athletes in the past. After winning the air rifle gold medal in 2012, Lee Si-rin The players received over $1 million in prize money, $30,000 worth of cars and custom alcohol bottles, while other players were gifted expensive new homes by real estate companies. - Austria
Veering away from the theme of cars and real estate, Austria has one of the more unique prizes on our list: In the past, Austrian Olympic gold medalists have won over $18,000 in Philharmonic coins, a popular bullion coin named after the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. - Iraq
Iraq awarded its Olympic athletes huge prizes just for qualifying to compete. Iraq’s football team and weightlifters Ali Amar Yasser Each participant who won a ticket to Paris received land, a monthly stipend, and a cash prize of over $7,000. - South Korea
South Korea offers an entirely different kind of reward to Olympic medalists: It grants military exemptions. While local law requires all able-bodied men to serve 18 months in the military before they turn 28, athletes who win an Olympic medal or an Asian Games gold medal are granted a complete exemption from military service.
Non-monetary rewards so far have included the US (Japan), free airfare and rail passes (India), free housing and fuel (Philippines), and luxury cars (Russia).
Some countries do not like to reward Olympic athletes, arguing that it is unnecessary and that the deeper value of the gold medal itself is worth more than the prize money.
Britain, along with other countries such as Norway and Sweden, offers no reward to Olympic medallists beyond the pride and prestige that comes with their achievement.
