Although Olympic athletes are not paid to compete in the Games, those who win gold, silver and bronze medals may walk away with cash bonuses for their efforts.
“Olympians are compensated directly to their respective country’s competition committee” if their home country approves the compensation, NBC explained.
As it turns out, the United States is one of those countries, and with the 2026 Winter Olympics coming to an end on Sunday, some competitors will be walking away with enough cash to pay a respectable fee.
How much do American athletes make when they win medals
Olympic athletes are not paid to compete directly by the International Olympic Committee.
“The event will be limited to those sports that make the most money, and will not include athletes representing teams from the 206 NOCs. [National Olympic Committees],” the IOC explained to NBC Insider. “It won’t be the Olympic Games as we know them.”
As for Team USA athletes, those who receive a medal are awarded a cash prize by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Dubbed “Operation Gold” by the USOPC, American athletes earned $37,500 in gold, $22,500 in silver, and $15,000 in bronze, according to USA Today. These figures have remained the same since the 2022 Games and fall short of what other countries pay their winners.
For example, Singapore pays its athletes $788,907 for their first Olympic gold medal, according to USA Today.
But again, this only applies to athletes who have received a medal. Fans of the sport were shocked to learn that young athletes were being compensated for their skills earlier in the week when a former Olympian. Monica Aksamitwho competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in fencing, shared on her Threads account @monicaaksamit how much she earns while preparing to compete.
“US Olympian here. When I qualified for the Olympics, the USOPC started paying me a small monthly stipend. Can anyone guess what that monthly amount was?” he wrote.
“$300 a month. That amount didn’t go up or down after the bronze medal.” (The USOPC has not yet issued a comment on these claims.)
How much house can a top Olympian buy?
As of this writing, American athletes have won a total of 29 medals: seven bronze, 12 silver, and 10 gold, with the figure skater. Alysa Liu bringing home two gold medals after an incredible performance on the ice, both with her team and on her own skates.
Liu is originally from Oakland, CA, where he has lived with his family and trained for most of his life.
By winning two gold medals, Liu stands to collect $75,000 from the US Olympic committee. If he was interested, that would be enough to pay 20% of the $375,000 house.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t get him very far in his hometown, where the median home price is $600,000.
Then again, this only considers the prize money. It does not include endorsements, such as Liu becoming a Gillette brand ambassador, and other cash prizes from contests.
Then there’s the American speedskater Jordan Stolzleading Team USA with three medals at the Games, winning gold in the 500m and 1000m, and silver in the 1500m.
That leaves him with $97,500 in prize money, which would be a 20% down payment on a $487,500 home. Stolz grew up in rural Kewaskum, WI. He learned to skate in the pond behind his home and made the 45-mile trek every day to the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee to train.
Perhaps surprisingly, his win will go much further in his hometown area than Liu’s. The median price for a home in Kewaskum is $344,900.
