Ellie Kemp
As the 2026 Winter Olympic Games get underway in Italy this week, you might well be wondering how much athletes make from their stint on the world stage.
Some 2,900 professionals will face-off across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo from Friday (February 6) until Sunday February 22.
More than 90 National Olympic Committees will be participating across 43 different sports, from figure skating to Alpine skiing, bobsleigh to curling and snowboarding to biathlon.
Team USA will no doubt be willing to top their previous Beijing 2022 performance, which landed them in third place, behind runners-up Germany and winners Norway.
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The US won 25 medals overall; nine gold, nine silver and seven bronze.
But if you thought being an Olympic athlete meant you were raking in the money, well, maybe think again.
The International Olympic Committee - the non-profit, independent organization that oversees the games - doesn't actually pay athletes to compete.
The US government doesn't fund its athletes either, but it does reward medal winners with cash prizes.
In fact, countries across the globe have different incentives for medal-winning athletes; in South Korea, men are exempt from mandatory military service, for example.
Some countries, like the UK, take the opposite approach - they provide athletes a stipend to train for the Olympics, but no financial reward for winning a medal.
Each country pays its Olympic athletes varying amounts depending on the medal they win.
As per CBNC, US sporting stars were paid $38,000 per gold medal, $23,000 per silver and $15,000 per bronze during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
In contrast, Hong Kong pays its athlete the most for wins; around $768,000 for a gold, $384,000 for silver and $192,000 for bronze.
Australia pays the least, coming in at $13,000, $10,000 and $7,000 for gold, silver and bronze respectively.
For the first time in history, Team USA athletes participating in this year's Milan Cortina Olympic games and beyond will get a $200,000 pay-out from financier Ross Stevens, founder of Stone Ridge Holdings Group.
Athletes will receive $200,000 for every Olympic Games they compete in, as the Wall Street Journal reports.
However, they don't see this money right away; they'll receive $100,000 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance, or at age 45 - whichever comes later.
The remaining $100,000 is paid to their families after they die.
This gives athletes some form of financial security beyond their Olympic careers.
“I do not believe that financial insecurity should stop our nation’s elite athletes from breaking through to new frontiers of excellence,” Stevens said.
Olympians tend to supplement an income via sponsorships and endorsements, especially as all eyes look to them on the world stage.
It's an opportunity for sport stars to make millions - like Eileen Gu, who became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing aged 18, winning two gold medals and a silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
As Sports Illustrated reports, at just 22 years old, Eileen was named the fourth top-paid female athlete in 2025 by Forbes, with a eye-watering total income of $23.1 million.
Brand deals with the likes of Red Bull, Porsche, Louis Vuitton and watchmakers IWC Schaffhausen contributed to that.
The American-Chinese athlete, who born in California, chose to represent China in the 2022 Games and will represent them once again this year.