Fiend at Court Unplugged
With the medal rounds underway for Olympic tennis, you might be wondering exactly how much a Gold Medal is worth. Winning a gold medal is priceless of course, but the object itself has value. Additionally, many national Olympic committees pay their athletes a bonus for winning a medal. If Olympic glory is viewed as a purely financial transaction however, it is completely understandable why so many tennis players would elect to skip the event.
First, the value of the actual medal. A gold medal for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is not solid gold. It is an alloy with 6 grams of gold and 550 grams of silver. At current metal prices the gold is worth $353 and the silver is worth $466. The total of $820 probably wouldn’t attract many world caliber athletes if the award for winning was a check for that amount.
Some national Olympic Committees also reward their medalists with financial incentives. The United States compensates their athletes $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for a silver and $15,000 for the bronze. That places the United States into the “cheapskates” range. Singapore, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Italy, and Hungary reward their gold medalists with six figures in US dollars. Even Russia and France pay more than the Americans.
It is an interesting thought exercise to compare that with prize money at one of the ATP tour events ongoing this week. The Truist Atlanta Open, awards the winner $54,535. The draw is packed with American players. The runner up will collect $39,100. Even the first round losers will collect $7,175 just for making the draw.
The Olympics is effectively a ten day event for tennis, which means that players will have to skip two stops on the professional tours. For the vast majority of professional tennis players, competing in the Olympics doesn’t make economic sense.
It makes me appreciate the tennis athletes who chose to represent their countries all the more.
- What’s an Olympic gold medal worth? It’s priceless, of course, but it also happens to be worth $820 at current metal prices, NBC New York, July 23, 2021.
- How Much Do Olympic (Both Summer And Winter) Athletes Earn?, David Weliver, MoneyUnder30.com, July 26, 2021.
- Atlanta Open Prize Money 2021, perfect-tennis.com, Monday July 26, 2021.
