Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey raked in more than $380,000 from her two bronze medals in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle at the Paris Olympics — a larger sum than Katie Ledecky has amassed from nine gold medals, four silvers, and a bronze across her entire Olympic career.
Over the past four Olympics, Ledecky has earned $372,500 from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) through its “Operation Gold” incentive program: $112,500 in Paris, $120,000 in Tokyo, $115,000 in Rio, and $25,000 in London. Operation Gold has offered athletes $37,500 per gold medal, $22,500 per silver, and $15,000 per bronze at the past two Olympics, up from $25,000/$15,000/$10,000 payouts at previous editions.
Haughey’s bronzes, by comparison, were worth $190,000 apiece. The 26-year-old collected a pair of silver medals in the 100 free and 200 free at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, earning $322,000 from Hong Kong for each. Her career Olympic earnings have now surpassed $1 million at $1.024 million.
The surprisingly low payouts for American Olympic medalists have drawn the attention of major sports personalities over the past week with Paris in the spotlight.
“You done bust your ass for four years straight to represent our country and the payout saying, ‘Thank you for the work you put in,’ is 37 f–king thousand,” Chad Ochocinco recently said on his podcast with Shannon Sharpe. “Come on man.”
“I’ll pay $50,000 to any American who breaks a world record,” Sharpe said. “I don’t give a damn what the event is. Out of my pocket.”
“I got another $50,000 right here,” Ochocinco added.
Ochocinco and Sharpe’s conversation was centered around track and field, so most media outlets interpreted the $50,000 world record bonus as only for those athletes. But if Sharpe truly meant any American, no matter the event, then maybe Bobby Finke will be getting an unexpected check in the mail soon.
Ochocinco and Sharpe aren’t the only ones offering extra incentives for Paris Olympians this summer. Flavor Flav sponsored the U.S. women’s water polo team, and Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian put up a $200,000 prize if American sprinter Gabby Thomas takes gold in the 200-meter. When a U.S. discus thrower tweeted right before the Olympics started that she couldn’t afford her rent, Flavor Flav and Ohanian split the bill. World Athletics is also putting up $50,000 for gold medalists in all 48 track and field events in Paris.
Meanwhile, USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey was paid $1.03 million in 2021 and $973,463 in 2022, even as the organization lost $17 million in net assets and ran a $10 million operational deficit in 2022. His salary last year was significantly more than 23-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps made across his whole Olympic career ($640,000). With Team USA winning its fewest gold medals in the pool this summer (eight) in 36 years since the Seoul 1988 Olympics (eight), is it time to rethink incentives for success?
