Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Rower thinks it’s “embarrassing”
That’s how much money there is for Olympic gold
In Singapore there is a million dollars for an Olympic victory; other countries in the world also lavishly reward a gold medal. In Germany, on the other hand, athletes are not covered by bonuses. Accordingly, there is less reward – which annoys at least one athlete very much.
20,000 euros for an Olympic victory? At least rowing world champion Oliver Zeidler finds the premiums for gold in Tokyo rather meager. “20,000 euros is really a bit embarrassing,” said Zeidler recently at the “Press Club” in Munich about the award given by the German Sports Aid Foundation and briskly demanded: “You can add at least a zero to it”.
After all, Germany is a rich country, said Zeidler, who, unlike footballers, can hardly make a living from his sport. The DFB professionals would have received 400,000 euros in the case of the EM title – each. But at the Olympic Games, the reward for a medal has remained unchanged since 2014: 20,000 euros for gold, 15,000 euros for silver and 10,000 euros for bronze. In 2016 in Rio, Sporthilfe distributed around 2.5 million euros to the medal winners, and the athletes up to eighth place (1,500 euros) also receive money.
In an international comparison, Germany tends to be in the lower range with its premium regulation. Singapore even pays an Olympic champion in an individual sport a premium of one million US dollars (approx. 850,000 euros). In the history of the country, this “jackpot” has only been cracked by swimmer Joseph Schooling, who defeated Michael Phelps butterfly over 100 meters in Rio in 2016.
In Indonesia there is at least 631,000 euros for gold, in Kazakhstan 211,000 and in Italy still a lush 150,000 euros. In the USA it is already more modest at 31,000 euros. In Poland there is a lifelong, tax-free pension as a “bonus”, and in Lithuania a car.
Protection in Germany works differently
Although Germany is ahead of Canada (12,700 euros) in the ranking, it is still in the bottom third overall. There are, however, logical reasons for this: unlike in other countries, a lot of money goes into the professional security of athletes, who are often employed by the armed forces or customs. Incidentally, whoever wins two or more gold medals is only paid once. There are also fewer team or relay athletes.
In any case, IOC President Thomas Bach would like the Olympics not to focus on the pursuit of money. “If someone becomes a competitive athlete to have won an Olympic gold medal, then – to put it bluntly – I would rather recommend going to the lottery office,” the IOC president had said before the summer games in Rio.
In the end, it’s also about honor and a little bit of sporting immortality. And of course medals. However, gold does not make any of the athletes rich here either. Strictly speaking, the round piece for the Olympic champions is just a silver medal covered with six grams of gold. The material value: 470 euros.
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