Do golfers earn prize money payouts at the Olympics? It depends what country they're from

There are no official prize money payouts given to golfers competing at the Olympics. The main rewards that the International Olympic Committee is handing out at the Paris Summer Games are gold, silver and bronze medals—and the chance for all participants to forever call themselves an Olympian.

That doesn’t mean, however, that players in the field at the men’s and women’s golf tournaments don’t have a chance to make some money based on their performance at Le Golf National. Many national Olympic federations offer financial paydays to their country’s athletes if they bring home a medal, including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

If any American athletes win a gold medal in Paris—including golfers—they will receive a cash prize of $37,500. A silver medal is worth $22,500 and a bronze earns $15,000.

How does that stack up compared to other countries? According to a report from Forbes, which reached out to all 206 countries and territories participating in the Paris Olympics, at least 33 nations are offering cash for medals. Of those, 15 are awarding the equivalent of $100,000 or more to gold medalists.

Hong Kong: $768,000
Israel: $275,000
Serbia: $218,000
Malaysia: $214,000
Italy: $196,000
Lithuania: $182,000
Moldova: $171,000
Latvia: $155,000
Hungary: $154,000
Bulgaria: $139,000
Ukraine: $125,000
Kosovo: $120,000
Estonia: $109,000
Czech Republic: $103,000
Spain: $102,000

Here’s another breakdown by country, as reported by CNBC, with amounts converted into U.S. dollars and rounded to the nearest 10,000 or 1,000.

Country: Gold/Silver/Bronze
Hong Kong: $768K/$384K/$192K
Singapore: $745K/$373K/$186K
Indonesia: $300K/$150K/$60K
Israel: $271K/$216K/$135K
Kazakhstan: $250K/$150K/$75K
Malaysia: $216K/$65K/$22K
Spain: $102K/$52K/$33K
France: $87K/$43K/$22K
South Korea: $45K/$25K/$18K
Japan: $32K/$13K/$6K
Poland: $25K/$19K/$14K
Germany: $22K/$16K/$11K
Australia: $13K/$10K/$7K

Other reports list Canada as giving out $20,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Besides money, some nations also reportedly give their medal winners other gifts. Kazakhstan provides apartments. Malaysia is giving out “foreign-made” cars. South Korean medalists are awarded pensions and male medal winners are generally cleared of their mandatory military obligations.

In some cases, the individual sport governing body also pays athletes for their accomplishment. Track and field performers who win gold medals will receive $50,000 for World Athletics; boxing reportedly is giving $100,000 to gold medalists, $50,000 for silver medals and $25,000 for bronze. Unfortunately for golfers, the International Golf Federation does not have a similar program in place.

That said, several golf governing bodies do offer exemptions into events for the golfers who win gold in Paris. All four men’s majors are holding a spot in their 2025 for the winner this week. The PGA Tour also is giving the winner an exemption into the Players Championship and The Sentry. The women’s winner, meanwhile, will get a place into next month’s AIG Women’s British Open and the other four women’s majors in 2025.