For Indians everywhere, it was a proud moment when Chanu Saikhom Mirabai, an Indian weightlifter, received a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Apart from the Silver medal, she received a lot of love and support from her country and from viewers worldwide. As far as the monetary benefits go, the Olympians do not receive any official cash prize from the International Olympic Committee.
It is the respective countries that the winners represent that bestow upon them as many benefits and rewards as they want for making them proud globally.
Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Viashnaw recently announced a cash reward of Rs 2 crore and promotion for Chanu’s spectacular performance.
Hon’ble Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw
felicitates Olympic silver medallist & Indian Railways’ weightlifter, Ms.Mirabai Chanu.He has announced cash award of Rs 2 Cr and promotion for her splendid performance at #TokyoOlympics2020. pic.twitter.com/lotlTInEBT
— South Western Railway (@SWRRLY) July 26, 2021
M Biren Singh, Manipur’s CM, has announced a Rs 1 crore reward. The Indian Olympics Association has also declared to bestow a Rs 10 lakh reward for Chanu’s performance.
As per the data compiled by MoneyUnder30, this is how much the players get paid for winning medals in the Olympics.
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 744,000 USD | 372,000 USD | 286,000 USD |
| Hong Kong | 644,000 USD | 322,000 USD | 161,000 USD |
| Kazakhstan | 250,000 USD | 150,000 USD | 75,000 USD |
| Italy | 212,400 USD | 106,200 USD | 70,800 USD |
| Hungary | 167,500 USD | 125,600 USD | 95,500 USD |
| Russia | 61,000 USD | 38,000 USD | 26,000 USD |
| France | 65,000 USD | 25,000 USD | 15,000 USD |
| USA | 37,500 USD | 22,500 USD | 15,000 USD |
| South Africa | 37,000 USD | 19,000 USD | 7,000 USD |
| Germany | 22,000 USD | 17,000 USD | 11,000 USD |
| Canada | 16,000 USD | 12,000 USD | 8,000 USD |
| Malaysia | 241,000 USD | 72,200 USD | 24,100 USD |
| Brazil | 47,500 USD | 28,500 USD | 19,000 USD |
| Japan | 45,200 USD | 18,100 USD | 9,045 USD |
| Australia | 15,100 USD | 11,400 USD | 7,600 USD |
The UK does not offer specific medal bonuses, however, it does devote £125 million ($162 million USD) of government and lottery funds to Olympic and Paralympic sports each year, some of which go to athlete’s annual stipends.
There are more than 600 US athletes that are competing at the Olympics this year. The country has so far won 11 gold, 11 silver, and 9 bronze medals.Singapore which has sent 23 athletes to Olympics this year, rewards its gold medalists the highest. The gold medalists stand to receive nearly 1 million Singapore dollars ($737,000). This is 20 times more than what US players receive.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee pays American medal winners $37,500 USD for gold, $22,500 USD for silver, and $15,000 USD for bronze medals.
