Gold price: how much do Olympic champions earn

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, are in full swing. American athletes currently have 16 awards (6 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze). In addition to fame, athletes will receive cash awards. We invite you to find out how much and how US Olympic medalists earn, and how champions are rated in other countries of the world.

Фото: Depositphotos

What's the price?

For each gold medal, American athletes receive $73,5 thousand from the US Olympic Committee, for a silver medal - $22,5 thousand, for a bronze medal - $15 thousand, writes Time.

Thus, at the moment, the Olympic Committee must pay $ 621 thousand to American athletes for achievements in Pyeongchang ($ 441 thousand for gold, $ 90 thousand for silver and $ 90 thousand for bronze).

This is nothing compared to Olympic payouts from the Summer Olympics in 2016, when American athletes won a total of 121 awards, and the Olympic Committee had to pay them $2,085 million ($1,150 million for gold, $555 thousand for silver and $380 thousand for bronze). Although prices were lower then, and American athletes received $25 thousand for each gold medal, $15 thousand for a silver medal, and $10 thousand for a bronze medal.

But until the end of the Winter Olympics, 2018 is still a whole week, so the athletes still have time to improve the results this year.

At current rates, the most award-winning athlete of the world holding this title from 2016 of the year, swimmer Michael Phelps from 2004 to 2016 received $ 640 thousands from the Olympic Committee (23 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals), calculated the edition Miami Herald.

But this is only from the Olympic Committee. Swimmers also receive awards from specialized sports organizations, and USA Swimming - one of the most generous. It gives an additional $75 thousand for gold, as well as $50 thousand for setting a new record. That is, Phelps earned about $1 million for participating in the Olympics.

Phelps became the main star of the Summer Olympics in 2016, but 2018 also boasts several Olympic heroes and vivid stories.

Skill not giving up makes athletes great

The figure skating champion Alyona Savchenko went to the gold award for more than 20 years and 5 Olympiads, writes Sport-Express.

Her Olympic debut took place in Salt Lake City in 2002, then the figure skater played for Ukraine, after that there were Turin-2006 and Vancouver-2010, already for Germany, as well as the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. Savchenko finished all these tournaments, getting no higher than third place. But she did not give up, and now in 34, when many no longer go on the ice, replacing three partners, Alyona, under the flag of Germany, rose to the highest step of the champion pedestal, thanks to the successful performance in a pair with Bruno Masso.

“I love to fight, and when I perform, I experience incomparable pleasure. I still experience this inner delight during emissions. Sometimes I even scream in the air, it’s so breathtaking,” Alena admitted in an interview.

Savchenko was born in a large family of teachers in the city of Obukhov in Ukraine, at the age of 3 years she asked her parents for skates for their birthday. The girl's sports career has always stumbled upon a multitude of bureaucratic problems: it was difficult for her to find an equal partner in Ukraine. Together with Stanislav Morozov, she became the junior world champion in 2000, and then began the search for a new partner, writes It.

She had to start all over again. At her first Olympiad in Salt Lake City-2002, Savchenko was still riding behind Ukraine and occupied the 15 place with Stanislav Morozov. Then, on long 10 years in her life, partner Robin Szolkowy happened - and in May 2003, Allen went to Germany. In the 2004 year, in their very first season, Savchenko and the Szolkows won the German Championship. The following season, they became fourth at the European Championships and sixth at the World Championships. Savchenko received German citizenship. In Turin, they were sixth.

The sports achievements of the Savchenko-Szolkowy pair are quite impressive: 5 is the world champions, twice bronze at the Olympics. But Alena's manic persistence over the years has not abated. She dreamed of a gold medal. Robin eventually could not resist. Gold at the Games remained an unfulfilled dream, but tortured by ambition and eternal third places, Szolkowy retired from the sport and took up a coaching career.

At that moment, when Alyona’s career put everyone in a cross, she suddenly finds a new partner - a powerful guy, a Frenchman named Bruno Masso. For a long time, the French Federation of figure skating did not want to let its athlete go to Germany. But he ventured.

It is still a mystery how she managed to see such enormous potential in him. In fact, it was she, Alyona Savchenko, who has recently been called the “great” figure skater, raised a real star from this guy.

The young goddess of snowboarding

17-year-old snowboarder Chloe Kim wanted to ride as part of the American team for the Winter Olympics in 2014, but she wasn’t taken because she was too young (she was 13 years old then).

Her Olympic debut was not just successful, but historic - the 17-year-old girl entered the list of the best snowboarders in the world, writes NBC News.

Before this, the girl had already won the Olympic Games for juniors and other specialized champions. She is especially proud of the victory in Pyeongchang, not only because these are the Olympic Games, but also because they took place in her home country - it was from South Korea that her parents immigrated to the United States, Kim herself was born in Los Angeles.

Taxes

Before 2016, American Olympic medalists must pay taxes on the cash rewards they receive for medals earned in olympiads, moreover, they also had to pay taxes for the cost of the medals themselves, which is a considerable amount.

Gold and silver Olympic medals are made primarily of silver, while bronze medals are made of copper. The medals in PyeongChang are the heaviest in the history of the Olympic Games, each weighing almost 600 g of silver or copper, in particular the weight of the gold medal is 586 g. Thus, the cost of a gold medal is $577, a silver medal is $320, and the price of a bronze medal is very insignificant ($3,50. XNUMX), therefore not subject to tax.

In 2016 year Congress passed a law exempting any awards and cash prizes awarded during the Olympic and Paralympic Games from taxation. It was signed by former US President Barack Obama, and now all Olympic awards (medals and cash prizes) received from January 1 January 2016 to January 1 2021 are not subject to taxation in the United States. However, according to the tax reform of Donald Trump, athletes with annual income in excess of 1 million, are still required to pay taxes on Olympic awards, writes Time.

The United States is one of the few countries that does not provide government funding for its Olympians, so a trip to the competition also cost them a pretty penny. Most Olympians cover these costs at the expense of sponsors or additional earnings.

Most countries do not tax Olympic awards, but Singaporean medalists pay 20% tax on prizes won by them.

Life between the Olympics

In addition, athletes who glorify the country face another problem.

They are not paid any salaries at all, writes CNN.

That is, athletes need to be creative by doing some kind of work in their free time from training in order to be able to pay for housing and their other needs, including those related to sports - uniform, training, etc.

For example, the world's first Olympic participant wearing a hijab, American Ibtihaj Muhammad, had to independently purchase such an unconventional and expensive costume for herself. According to her, fencing is one of the most expensive Olympic sports - uniforms, weapons, and coach services cost about $20 thousand a year.

Like most Olympians, Mohammad owes a lot to local businessmen who sponsor American athletes.

Winner of several Paralympic medals cyclist Joe Berenius is forced to rely on his wife for the financial support of their family, since his monthly thousands of dollars from US Paralympic Cycling lacks.

Olympic awards in other countries

American Olympians live hard. Participants of the Games from other countries in the event of successful performance receive much more, writes Real clear life.

The biggest awards for gold are received by athletes from Singapore ($ 1 million), Taiwan ($ 640 thousand), Azerbaijan ($ 510 thousand), Indonesia ($ 384 thousand) and Thailand ($ 287 thousand).

Gold medalists from Russia will receive $ 60 thousand each. Ukrainian Olympians will be awarded as follows: $ 125 thousand for gold, $ 80 thousand for silver and $ 55 thousand for a bronze award.

Some countries believe that an athlete’s achievement is the result of the coach’s work, so they also reward the latter. Among such countries are India, Azerbaijan and South Korea, awards range from $7 thousand to $123 thousand.

Britain does not give any monetary rewards to athletes or their coaches for winning awards. Germany is also among the greediest countries in this regard: the gold medalists of this country will receive $19.

But some countries, to put it mildly, do not stint on honoring their successful athletes. For example, Olympian Keshorn Walcott, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2012 Olympiad, set a new world record in javelin throwing and earned the second gold medal in the history of his country.

During this day, his return to the country was declared a national holiday, the runway and the plane were named after him, awarded him $ 150 by the thousands, presented with a luxurious apartment and a land plot of 20 thousand square meters. ft (1 858 sq. meters).

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