The Olympic Games are one of, if not the, biggest sporting spectacles in the world, but the majority of Olympic medalists will not be coming home with any extra cash lining their pockets.
The International Olympic Committee does not award athletes any prize money for winning medals at the Games, although some sports federations and national governments can still opt to pay their Olympians based on their performances.
Earlier this year, track and field became the first Olympic sport to offer prize money to Olympic medalists when World Athletics announced its intentions to pay $50,000 to each individual gold medalist.
A number of nations are also going the monetary route this summer, including Italy, Hungary, Morocco, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, to name a few.
However, there are many countries that offer non-monetary rewards and incentives to their athletes who earn Olympic medals, ranging from property to livestock. Here is a (non-exhaustive) round-up of some of the non-monetary rewards offered to Olympic medalists by their home countries.
- Indonesia
Indonesia has been known to offer livestock and real estate to its Olympic medalists. In 2021, badminton gold medalists Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu were promised five cows, a new house and a meatball restaurant, in addition to a cash prize totaling approximately $350,000 USD. - Malaysia
According to Malay Mail, Malaysian athletes who earn medals at the Games will be awarded with a foreign-made car; the arrangement came about after an unnamed car company approached the Road to Gold Committee. - Republic of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Sports will reward athletes who podium in Paris with a new apartment. Gold medalists will be awarded a three-room apartment, while silver medalists will receive a two-room apartment and bronze medalists receive a one-room apartment. - China
China has offered a variety of non-monetary awards to its Olympians in the past. After winning gold in the air rifle in 2012, Yi Siling received a cash award totaling over $1 million USD, a car worth $30,000 and custom-made alcohol. Other athletes have been gifted expensive new homes by real estate companies. - Austria
Straying from the theme of cars and real estate, Austria has one of more unique awards on the list. In the past, the nation’s Olympic gold medalists have received over $18,000 USD worth of Philharmonic coins, a popular bullion coin named after the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. - Iraq
Iraq has awarded its Olympic athletes with significant prizes just for qualifying for the Games. The Iraqi soccer team and weightlifter Ali Ammar Yasser all received plots of land, monthly stipends and a reward of over $7,000 USD after punching their tickets to Paris. - South Korea
Offering a very different kind of reward, South Korea grants military exemption to its Olympic medalists. The nation’s law requires all able-bodied men to serve in the military for 18 months, beginning before they turn 28, but a full waiver is permitted for athletes who win any medal at the Olympics or a gold medal at the Asian Games.
Other non-monetary rewards over the years have included rice (Japan), free flights and railway passes (India), free houses and fuel (Philippines) and luxury cars (Russia).
Some nations prefer not to reward their Olympians at all, maintaining that it is unnecessary and that the profound value of the gold medal itself is worth more than a monetary prize.
Great Britain, along with countries like Norway and Sweden among others, does not offer any kind of reward to its Olympic medalists aside from the pride and prestige that comes with the achievement.