We’re five days into the 2024 Olympic Games, which are taking place in scenic Paris, France. And while there are many storylines such as Team USA basketball or Simone Biles and the women’s gymnastics team taking home the gold medal in the team competition, something else seems to garnering a lot of the headlines. That happens to be the amount of money other countries are paying their athletes for winning gold medals versus what the United States is paying their athletes.
The noise began after they at being reported they Taiwan and Singapore are paying their athletes over $600,000 for winning gold.
That’s still not more than the $768,000 that Hong Kong is shelling out to its gold medal winners.
United States Paying Gold Medalists Less Than Hong Kong and Taiwan
The United States isn’t paying anywhere near that type of cash for winning a gold medal. In fact they’re paying $37,000 for a gold, $22,500 for a silver and $15,000 for a bronze medal.
That huge payout disparity drew the ire of former NFL legends Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco who talked about it on the most recent episode of their hit podcast “Nightcap.”
Sharpe And Ocho Vow To Pay Athletes $25K Per Gold
As the two discussed what’s been happening over the first couple of days of Olympic competition, the talk of pay to the athletes became a topic. Ochocinco called out the situation in his comments.
“You don’t bust your a— for four years straight to represent our country, and the payout saying, ‘Thank you for the work you’ve put in,’ is $37,000?” Ochocinco asked. “C’mon man.”
Sharpe singled out Noah Lyles who’s the favorite to win the gold in the 100 meters saying, “Noah Lyles trained for four years for nine seconds. Hey, Noah Lyles, if you win the 100-meter gold, I and Ocho will each give you $25,000.”
Wanting to do their part to help bridge the gap, the duo has offered $25K to gold medal winners and that doubles to $50K for record-breaking performances.
Why Only Track And Field?
Since the Olympic Games began the track and field portion has long been a highlight of the games, especially within the Black community.
That’s no different this year with the aforementioned Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson the favorites to win gold in the 100 meters after years of the Jamaicans dominating the event.
In the 200 meters, Gabby Thomas is the betting favorite to do the same, and let’s just keep it a buck, no other events excite the masses like the sprinter running at or under ten seconds in front of thousands in Olympic Stadium.
One could see why Sharpe and Ochocinco are willing to pay anyone that wears the red, white and blue for winning.
