Competing in the Olympic Games comes with a lot of prestige - and in some parts of the world, an esteemed podium finish is not only awarded with a shiny medal, but a healthy cash payout in the athlete's pocket.
US-based sports news site, SwimSwam, has examined medal bonuses paid by the Olympic Committees of various nations worldwide to its podium-placing athletes.
For some nations and territories, an athlete who achieves first, second or third place is rewarded with a six-figure bonus - with Hong Kong officials shelling out 5 million Hong Kong dollars (NZ$915,837) for gold medals in individual events.
But Singapore pays its gold medallists the most, SwimSwam found, with bonuses surpassing NZ$1.06 million.
In 2016, Indonesia paid out a cool 5 billion Indonesian rupiah, the equivalent of NZ$497,513, to its gold-winning Olympians. Its champions also receive a monthly allowance of roughly NZ$2000 for the rest of their lives, according to Forbes.
SwimSwam's data differs slightly - citing a 2019 source, the site claims Indonesia is now paying out roughly 10 billion rupiah (about NZ$1 million) to its gold medallists.
Thailand offers its number one athletes approximately NZ$441,000, with Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Italy, Hungary and France rounding out the top 10 nations with the most generous bonus payouts.
New Zealand's trans-Tasman neighbour ranks 19th on the list, with Australia awarding its athletes AU$20,000 for gold, AU$15,000 for silver and AU$10,000 for bronze.
For the host country, a report last week from local outlet Kyodo News said that bonuses of ¥5,000,000 (NZ$65,314), ¥2,000,000 (NZ$26,125), and ¥1,000,000 (NZ$13,062) will be paid to Japan's gold, silver and bronze medallists respectively. An additional prize has been announced for the Japanese baseball team, where each player will receive an additional ¥5,000,000 (NZ$65,314) should the host team claim gold.
Where New Zealand sits
A spokesperson for the New Zealand Olympic Committee told Newshub there is no cash payment to Kiwi medallists in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In 2016, High Performance Sport New Zealand said Kiwi medallists could be eligible for 'performance enhancement grants' of $60,000 for gold and $55,000 for bronze or silver, but the grants weren't guaranteed - and athletes were required to go through an application process.
Under the grants system, any athlete who finished 12th or better was able to receive between $30,000 and $47,500, depending on their placing.
In the London 2012 Summer Olympics, New Zealand's gold-winning rowers reportedly picked up $60,000 each before tax, with the silver and bronze taking home $55,000 each.
However, cash bonuses are not the only way Olympic athletes are funded by their federations. For example, the UK does not offer specific payouts, but did provide approximately £345 million (NZ$683 million) of government and lottery funds to Olympic and Paralympic sports for the Tokyo cycle, including roughly £61 million (NZ$120 million) for Athlete Performance Awards.
The US - which is now awarding around NZ$53,390 for gold, NZ$32,034 for silver and NZ$21,356 for bronze - also provides its medal-winning Olympians with a series of grants and benefits, such as health insurance, according to Forbes. The aforementioned figures have been increased considerably from the sums offered at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In addition to a cash bonus, for the past several Olympics Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly gifted luxury cars to podium-placing athletes.
In 2016, Singaporean swimmer Joe Schooling took home a S$1,000,000 bonus for his victory in the 100m butterfly, beating multi-medal-winner US competitor Michael Phelps - setting the standard for the largest official Olympic reward that SwimSwam could find.
SwimSwam's ranking of Olympic gold medal rewards by nation
