From china.org:

The Kenyan government said on Monday that it would give cash rewards for the gold medalists in the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games next month.

President Mwai Kibaki said gold medalists will earn 750,000 shillings (about 11,000 U.S. dollars) while silver and bronze medalists will get 500,000 shillings (7,500 dollars) and 250,000 shillings (3,700 dollars) respectively.

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How much money do Olympians make? It depends on a lot of variables: whether they come from rich countries or poor ones, whether they won medals during the Games, whether they compete in the popular sports events, and many other factors.

Anyways, I’ve been blogging about this question for sometime now and I think it’s a good idea to put together the separate posts I’ve made into a single one. This way, those of you who are googling “How much money do Olympians make” will see the bigger picture without needing to go through all the previous entries.

I hope to update this in the future as I come across more information. As you will note, this mainly focuses on the incentives/allowances that athletes receive from their country’s sports authorities. I hope to include the income of Olympians from endorsement deals and sponsorships in a future update.

So here’s our list. Please follow the link for details.

Thai Incentives
Gold medalist = $314,000
Silver medalist = $187,788
Bronze medalist = $125,213

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If you are from Slovenia who wins an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, how much financial incentive will you receive from grateful authorities back home? Here’s the figure released by the Slovenian Olympic Committee:

Gold medalist: 39,350 euros (62,920 U.S. dollars)
Silver medalist: 30,400 euros (48,609 dollars)
Bronze medalist: 21,450 euros (34,298 dollars).

Gold medalists in team sports will each receive 10,000 euros (15,990 dollars) from the Slovenian Olympic Committee in addition to the one-off 96,750 euros (154,703 dollars) that the state is giving to the whole team.

To see the financial incentives received by Olympians from other countries, visit How Much Money Do Olympians Make.

Info source: xinhua

Argentina is giving sports diplomas and scholarships to its athletes who qualified for the Olympics.

Argentinas Travel: 130 of the amateur athletes headed to this year’s Olympics were honored by the Argentine government on Tuesday in Buenos Aires. According to the China View, the athletes received sportsmen diplomas and scholarships of 4,000 pesos.

Sports Minister Claudio Morresi attended the event and commented on what made it unique. He noted that while most countries honor their medal winners, Argentina was proud to honor their athletes for the incredible effort it took just to get to that place. Attendees included the members of the Argentine women’s field hockey team, Las Leonas, who recently won the Champions Trophy in Germany and are hoping for Olympic gold.

I particularly like that scholarship stuff because it encourages athletes to also think about going to school. Sports stars have shorter fame-minutes than Hollywood celebrities so its good if they also plan a future beyond sports. Surely, no one wants to be one of those “yesterday’s athletes who beg on the streets” that Nigeria’s Olosuji Fasuba lamented about here.

Note: For the financial and other incentives received by Olympic athletes from different country’s click here .

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According to our list, Thailand — so far — is giving the highest financial incentive to its Olympic medalists. Here’s how it looks:

Gold medalists will earn $314,000, silver medal winners will take home $187,788 while a bronze is worth $125,213.

Unlike other countries, Thailand will be giving its athletes’ incentives via installment — 50% will be rewarded after the Olympics while the other 50% will be paid over a 20 year period.

In case you are wondering, the Thai authorities decided on this installment scheme after 2004 boxing gold medalist Manus Boonjumnong gambled away the $600,000 he received following his Olympic victory.

Thankfully, Manus is going back to the Olympics to defend his title. If he wins another gold medal he will earn $314,000 which, we hope, will be used for more productive, non-gambling activities.

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