While 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 from their country’s respective Olympic competition committee” if their home country agrees to the compensation, explains NBC.
As it turns out, America is one of those countries, and with the 2026 Winter Olympics coming to a close Sunday, some competitors will be walking away with enough cash for a decent down payment.
How much American athletes make when they medal
Olympic athletes are not paid to compete by the International Olympic Committee directly.
“The event would be limited to those sports that generate the most significant revenues, and it would not involve athletes representing teams from 206 NOCs [National Olympic Committees],” explained the IOC to NBC Insider. “It would not be Olympic Games as we know them.”
As for Team USA athletes, those who medal are awarded a cash prize by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Deemed “Operation Gold” by the USOPC, American athletes earn $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze, according to USA Today. These figures have remained the same since the 2022 Games and fall short of what some other countries pay their winners.
Singapore, for example, pays its athletes $788,907 for their first gold medal in the Olympic Games, per USA Today.
But again, this applies only to athletes who have medaled. Fans of the Games were shocked to learn just how little athletes are compensated for their talents earlier in the week when former Olympian Monica Aksamit, who competed in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro for fencing, shared on her Threads account @monicaaksamit just how much she receives while prepping to compete.
“U.S. Olympian here. When I qualified for the Olympics, the USOPC started paying me a monthly stipend. Could anyone guess what that monthly amount was?” she wrote.
“$300 a month. That amount did not increase or decrease after the bronze medal.” (The USOPC has not released a comment on these claims as of yet.)
How much house can a top Olympian buy?
As of this writing, American athletes have won 29 medals total: seven bronze, 12 silver, and 10 gold, with figure skater Alysa Liu bringing home two gold medals after a stunning performance on the ice, both with her team and in her solo skates.
Liu hails from Oakland, CA, where she has lived with her family and trained most of her life.
For winning two gold medals, Liu stands to collect $75,000 from the U.S. Olympic committee. If she was interested, that would be enough for a 20% down payment on a $375,000 home.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t get her very far in her hometown, as the median priced home in the area stands at $600,000.
Then again, this takes into consideration only the medal prize money. It does not factor in endorsements, like Liu being a brand ambassador for Gillette, and other cash prizes from competitions.
Then there’s American speedskater Jordan Stolz, who leads Team USA with three medals at the Games, securing gold in both the 500m and 1000m, and silver in the 1500m.
That leaves him with $97,500 in medal-earning prize money, which would be a 20% down payment on a $487,500 home. Stolz grew up in the rural town of Kewaskum, WI. He learned to skate on the pond behind his home and made a 45-mile daily commute to the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee to train.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his winnings would go a lot further toward a hometown property than for Liu. The median price for a home in Kewaskum is $344,900.