Unlike professional athletes in the NBA, NFL or NHL, Olympic athletes get peanuts comparably and if you are not a household name like Phelps or are on the cover of a Wheaties box you are basically scrounging just to make ends meet. Without the support of family and friends, holding a part-time job is hard enough while you are training year round. Here is a list of what the top countries offer their athletes if they win gold. Can you guess who is the top country oferring $753,000 ?
If you are a US or Canadian athlete you are looking at $15,000 bonus for hitting gold, personally I find that kind of cheap when your start athletes if representing your country with the gold, but at the end of the day in these particular markets I think they strike it big on the back end with huge endorsement deals… Wheaties here we come!
