Kirsty Mckenzie
Team Spain’s athletes who win gold at this year’s Olympics will be immortalised in the national memory. But prestige isn’t the only thing driving them on.
Virtually all the world’s national Olympic committees will be offering cash rewards to athletes who take gold in their disciplines.
The amount of money an athlete receives for winning a gold medal in their event varies enormously around the world – Team GB athletes will not receiving a penny while a gold medalist from Malaysia will walk away with about €400,000.
Spain is actually pretty far down the list in terms of payouts, with the likes of Singapore, Kazakhstan, and Italy all beating them with the amount they pay winning athletes.
Individual Olympians from Spain will earn €94,000 for each gold medal in Tokyo, €48,000 for each silver and €30,000 for bronze.
If the athletes are competing as pairs or in a team, the payout is a little lower. Gold medal winning duos are awarded €75,000 each, while a silver medal will see them snag €37,000 euros and finally €25,000 if they climb to the third step of the podium.
As for team sports, they will receive the same financial rewards that were paid out to Spanish teams five years ago at the Rio Games and walk away with €50,000 euros each if they are first, €29,000 if they reach second place and €18,000 for third.
Singaporean athletes get a whooping €570,000 for a gold medal, €280,000 for silver and €140,000 for bronze through the Multi-Million Dollar Awards Programme.
Italy payout around €125,000 per gold medal plus €62,000 for silver and €41,000 for bronze while Kazakhstan gives out €189,000 for first place, €113,000 for silver and €56,000 for bronze.
Like Norway and Sweden, Great Britain does not pay Olympians for their medals. But the UK Government does assign about £160 million of funds per year to Olympic and Paralympic sports, some of which go to annual athlete training and stipends.
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