Here’s how much athletes earn for winning medals

As the dust of the 2024 Paris Olympics settles, venues across the City of Light welcome a new crop of athletes for the Paralympic Games.

While the International Paralympic Committee does not dole out prize money for winning medals, several countries do reward their athletes with medal bonuses.

Here’s how much some athletes are set to earn for their sporting achievements, based on information compiled by CNBC from national Paralympic committees, sports associations and local reports:

At the start of the year, the Canadian Paralympic Committee announced that medalists will receive the same cash bonus as their Olympic counterparts for placing on the podium, at 20,000 Canadian dollars ($14,786) for gold, CA$15,000 for silver and CA$10,000 for bronze. Host country France is also awarding Paralympic medal bonuses equal to those doled out to Olympic medalists.

The same extends to Spain. A recent grant now rewards Paralympic athletes with the same cash bonuses as Olympic medalists — at 94,000 euros ($105,312) for gold medalists, 48,000 euros for silver medalists and 30,000 euros for bronze medalists.

Malaysia’s Paralympic medalists are set to receive a cash reward of 1 million Malaysian ringgit ($228,623) for gold, 300,000 ringgit for silver and 100,000 ringgit for bronze. The Southeast Asian country has been doling out equal prizes to Paralympic medalists as their Olympic counterparts since 2016.

Malaysia’s Paralympic Council president said three external companies are sponsoring additional cash bonuses of up to 60,000 ringgit for gold, 30,000 ringgit for silver medalists and 15,000 ringgit for bronze medalists.

Japan’s Paralympic gold medalists will receive 3 million yen ($20,780) from the Japanese Para Sports Association, less than the 5 million yen awarded by the Japan Olympic Committee to Olympic gold medalists. Paralympic silver and bronze medalists will receive payouts equal to their Olympic counterparts, at 2 million yen and 1 million yen, respectively.

Australia, Israel and South Korea are also offering Paralympic medalists cash rewards equal to that of their Olympic counterparts.

Although Hong Kong’s Jockey Club announced that Paralympic gold medalists will receive almost double of what they received in the Tokyo 2020. But the 1.5 million Hong Kong dollar ($192,333) bonus is still significantly less than the HK$6 million reward granted to gold medalists at the Olympics a few weeks ago. 

A silver Paralympic medalist stands to receive HK$750,000, while bronze medalists get HK$375,000, significantly lower than what their Olympic counterparts receive.

By a similar margin, Singapore’s gold Paralympic medalists will receive 500,000 Singapore dollars ($380,000) — half of what their Olympic counterparts get. Silver and bronze medalists will earn $300,000 and $150,000 respectively.

The disparity in prize money was raised in Singapore’s parliament in 2016. A minister responded that rewards for the Olympics and Paralympics are determined by non-governmental entities — namely the Singapore National Paralympics Council and the Singapore National Olympics Council — which are largely funded by different sponsorships. 

British Paralympians, like their Olympic counterparts, do not receive prize money for winning medals, but they do have an annual training stipend.

The exact prize money for China’s Paralympic gold medalists is not clear, as rewards reportedly vary by region and event.

The largest delegations at the Paralympic Games are China with 282 athletes, followed by Brazil with 255. Host country France sent 237 athletes. 

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.