The amount of bonuses for medalists at the Paris Olympics has never been so high.
Participating in the Olympic Games is already a dream for all top athletes. But having a medal, of the finest metal if possible, is, for many, the apotheosis of a career. In total, more than 40 disciplines will be there with 5,084 medals distributed.
In 2020, during the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, France left with 33 medals, including 10 Olympic titles, placing it in 8th place in the medal table. For the Paris Olympics, the ambition is much greater with around “fifty medals” envisaged.
The question of bonuses for future Olympic medalists arises. In 2016, during the Rio Olympics, the bonus for Olympic champion athletes was 50,000 euros for a gold medal, this was also the case in London in 2012. In Japan in 2020, the bonus for a medal gold had seen an increase from 50,000 to 65,000.
For Paris, a French Olympic champion will see his bonus increase from 65,000 to 80,000, an increase of 15,000 euros, equal to that observed between the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. “We said to ourselves that we were going to make an exceptional budgetary effort for these Paris 2024 Games,” said the Minister of Sports. Note that this amount will be exactly the same between the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The increase will also concern other medals. For silver, it will be 40,000 euros, instead of 25,000 euros in Tokyo, and for a bronze medal, 20,000 euros, compared to 15,000 euros previously. For those wondering, this bonus will not be tax exempt.
“The idea of ??rewarding exceptional athletes, who have made exceptional efforts for years, was very important for the president,” explained Minister Amélie Oudéa Castéra at France Info a few weeks ago. “Athletes have been preparing for years, they do not always have sufficient material conditions, even if we have made a lot of progress on this compared to the time of the Rio Games to give them living conditions, to improve their social protection.”
If the athletes will be rewarded, the bonuses for management and coaches will also be increased, as the minister explained. Until now they corresponded to 50% of the amount of the athletes’ bonus, they will now increase to 100%. It’s about “recognizing the investment of the team behind the team, it’s important in our philosophy of performance,” explained the minister.