Many Countries Pay Big Bonuses For Olympic Medals. This One Is Shelling Out $2.7 Million.

For the second Winter Olympics in a row, Norway won the most medals of any nation competing, piling up 37 over the last two weeks in Beijing. The country also led the way with 16 gold medals, out of the 109 available across the Games’ 15 sports.

But Norway tied for last among the 91 delegations when it came to a different kind of gold.

While Norway gives athletes stipends to help cover their training expenses, it does not offer any financial incentives specifically for a medal-winning performance. Dozens of other countries do, however, in some cases offering six-figure bonuses to each medal winner. And of the 31 countries and territories whose medal pay plans Forbes has been able to confirm—18 of which actually won at least one medal in Beijing—no delegation is giving away more than Italy, which is due to pay out $2.7 million for its 17 medals.

Italian Olympians are eligible to receive roughly $201,000 from the country’s national Olympic committee for a gold medal, $101,000 for silver and $67,000 for bronze. That scheme is even more generous because, unlike many other countries, Italy offers the same reward to athletes competing individually and athletes competing as part of a team—so the six short-track speed skaters who won silver in the mixed 2,000-meter relay collectively earned $604,000. And unlike some other countries, Italy continues to pay out bonuses no matter how many medals an athlete wins—so snowboarder Omar Visintin is receiving $168,000 for his silver and bronze.

Above all, Italy stands out because the 11 other delegations Forbes knows to be offering six-figure payouts for a single medal—Hong Kong, Turkey, Malaysia, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Kosovo, Estonia and the Czech Republic—won seven medals in Beijing between them. Most countries that are as successful as Italy grant more modest bonuses. For instance, Team USA pays $37,500 to gold medalists, $22,500 to silver medalists and $15,000 to bronze medalists, whether they competed individually or as part of a team. That puts it on the hook for nearly $1.6 million in bonuses for its 25 medals in Beijing. Taxpayers can rest easy, though: The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which created the incentives, gets its funding from a nonprofit foundation, not the government.

Italy actually racked up an even bigger bill last year at the Tokyo Olympics, paying out more than ​​$9 million for its 40 medals. (The Summer Games had more than three times as many medals available, with 339 events.) But there is one downside for Italian medal winners: They have to pay taxes on their bonuses, whereas any medal winners from Denmark and Romania—to name two countries—would get tax-exempt rewards.

Forbes ran the numbers for 18 countries that revealed the details of their pay plans and captured at least one medal in Beijing; here is how much each is due to pay out, based on formulas that in some cases are simple and in others quite complex. Depending on the country, the amount may be paid by the national Olympic committee or the government, or some combination of the two.

The amounts listed reflect the exchange rate as of January 28. China and Russia—Olympic powerhouses that won 15 and 32 medals in Beijing, respectively—have reportedly paid medalists at past Games but were among the delegations that did not respond to requests for comment about their plans for these Winter Olympics.