Medaling at the Olympics is nice. You can get your national anthem played, everyone claps. The McDonald’s in the Olympic Village slides you a free 20-piece McNugget (unconfirmed).
But the most underrated part is the cash. Many Olympic athletes are amateurs incapable of accepting financial benefits through sponsorships, so the cash their sport’s national Olympic committee tenders for medals is the only direct financial gain they can see for their work.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell broke down the U.S. Olympic team’s biggest earners after the Rio Olympics. The following are the top five, starting with the number one slot—which is…a bit surprising.
$275,000—Kyle Snyder and Helen Marouls (wrestling)
Thanks to USA Wrestling’s Living the Dream Fund, Snyder and Marouls will take home $250,000 in private funds for winning the gold medal in their weight class, and an additional $25,000 for their medals.
$140,000—Michael Phelps (swimming)
No grants or funds for Phelps. Just $140,000 in cold hard medals for five golds and one silver.
$115,000—Katie Ledecky (swimming)
As a member of the Stanford swimming team, Ledecky can’t sign big-money deals with Speedo just yet. But she can cash in one four golds and a silver with zero eligibility problems.
$110,000—Simone Biles (gymnastics)
This is a tidy bank roll for Biles’ four gold medals and bronze. It’ll get blown out of water when those new endorsement deals get signed. Tough luck for Wheatie’s, though—Biles is already signed with Special K cereal.
$89,167—Allyson Felix (track)
She got beat out for gold thanks to a diving throw by Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, but Felix’s two relay gold medals and 400-meter silver made for a lucrative stint in Brazil.
Dan is on Twitter. He gets paid per viral meme.
