Winter Olympics vs Summer Games – how much do medallists earn? (2024)

For most athletes, making it to the Olympics is more about earning a shot at glory than boosting their bank balance, with no prize money from organisers on offer for medallists.

But there are plenty of other avenues for Games medal winners to profit from their success.

Hong Kong’s athletes were offered a cash incentive for bringing home a medal from last summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as part of an initiative sponsored by property developer Henderson Land Group.

Fencing champion Edgar Cheung Ka-long was handed HK$5 million (US$640,000) and swimmer Siobhan Haughey received HK$2.5 million for each of her two silver medals.

British athletes are not awarded any cash bonuses for winning medals, but are supported throughout their training with funding from the government and the national lottery, while American athletes earn up to US$37,500 for an Olympic gold.

But when it comes to making money at the Olympics, the biggest revenue for athletes comes from sponsorship – and that varies considerably between the Summer and Winter Games.

Hong Kong’s Olympians urge Beijing 2022 trio to recall ‘blood, sweat and tears’

It makes sense, given that for many countries and delegations – especially those that experience balmy winter seasons – the Winter Olympics are less of a big deal.

Hong Kong, for example, will be sending just three athletes to Beijing – still, that is the city’s largest delegation ever for the Winter Games. But what can they expect to earn?

How much money goes into the Games?

There are two sponsorship structures at the Olympics – revenue that comes from International Olympic Committee (IOC) funds, and revenue from domestic sponsorship, with more money put into the Summer Games than Winter.

The Rio 2016 Summer Games received US$1.5 billion in financial support, while the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games was given just US$887 million.

The IOC also provides contributions to International Olympic Federations, which support the development of sport at all levels worldwide. Again, Rio (US$540 million) was given more money than Pyeongchang (US$215 million).

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics generated record domestic sponsorship revenues of more than US$3.3 billion from 68 sponsors, according to the IOC, a sum which was three times greater than the previous Summer Games in Brazil.

Each domestic sponsor also had marketing rights with the host country.

Pyeongchang, on the other hand, received US$649 million from 86 partners, and the Olympic Games domestic sponsorship programme granted marketing rights within the host country.

Television commercials are another big source of revenue. A 30-second commercial in the US during Beijing 2008 cost US$73,000, with the number rising to US$90,000 four years later at London 2012, according to Statista.

At the 2014 Sochi Winter games, television advertising costs soared and the average price for a 30-second spot in the US was US$112,800, according to Kantar Media.

How much do top athletes earn from sponsorship?

American snowboarding world champion Shaun White has had sponsors since he was just seven years old. But winning his first Olympic gold medal in 2006 brought him a sharp rise in endorsem*nt deals.

White signed a 10-year deal with American snowboard manufacturing company Burton, and also has deals with Oakley Inc. and the Target Corporation, while he has dipped his toes into the world of acting and been hired for appearances.

White reportedly has a net worth of US$69 million as of 2022, which makes him by far the richest snowboarder in the world.

Lindsey Vonn, the world champion skier who announced her retirement in 2019, ended her 19-year career as one of the sport’s most successful athletes with a total of 137 World Cup medals and three Olympic medals.

She has several big sponsors, including Under Armour, Red Bull, and GoPro, and has amassed a reported net worth of US$12 million.

South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna – known as “Queen Yuna” to her fans – was the seventh-highest paid female athlete in the world in 2018, according to Forbes, earning roughly US$9 million that year.

Kim has been sponsored by several big brands including Nike, Korean Air and Hyundai, and has gained fame outside skating, having done music collaborations with famous Korean artists Lee Seungi-gi and Big Bang.

How do Summer Games athletes compare?

Usain Bolt, a world record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay, understandably brings in huge sums of money from commercial sponsorship. His contract with Puma alone nets him US$10 million a year and he also has major deals with Gatorade, Virgin Media and Visa. In 2018, Forbes listed him as the 45th highest-paid athlete in the world, with a net worth of US$31 million.

Tom Daley, the British diver, has deals with Adidas, Argos and Etihad Airways, and is estimated to be worth US$4 million. Away from the pool, he has also written a bestselling autobiography and runs a popular YouTube channel, which has more than 1 million subscribers.

Guo Jingjing, a Chinese Olympic gold medallist in diving, has earned several big sponsorship deals in her career. In 2002 after winning both the 1m and 3m springboard titles at the World Cup, she became the face of Chinese drinks company Aodeli. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she secured two gold medals, she signed with Toshiba, Coca Cola and McDonalds.

In 2005, Guo appeared for the first time on the Forbes list of Chinese celebrities, which reported her annual income at US$1.5 million (10 million yuan), and in 2007 that figure rose to US$34 million (233 million yuan).

Why the difference?

The Winter Olympics are 40 to 50 per cent of the size of the Summer Games, according to Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts.

“[This estimate is] measured by the number of countries competing, sponsorship revenue and television revenue generated, or other metrics,” Zimbalist said.

Viewership during the Summer Games is also much higher than the Winter Games. More than 3 billion viewers watched Tokyo 2020 across television and digital platforms – a 33 per cent increase compared to Rio, according to independent research conducted for the IOC.

Pyeongchang 2018, on the other hand, had an audience of 1.92 billion – down from Sochi 2014, which brought in 2.1 billion cumulative viewers, according to Statista.

Similar to revenue and viewership at the Winter and Summer Games, deals generally follow the same pattern, Zimbalist said, when it comes to sponsorship and endorsem*nts for Olympic athletes.

Winter sports tend to be more elite, and most of the nations in the world do not have the climate for them, Zimbalist said, leading to far fewer participants, which has a knock on effect financially all the way to the top.