(NEXSTAR) — We’ve been watching athletes from around the world dazzle at the Paris Olympics, all vying for gold, silver, or bronze.
But what about vying for green, hard-earned, cash?
Ultimately, it depends on the country the athlete is representing, and, in some cases, what sport they’re participating in.
The International Olympic Committee, and thereby the Olympics, do not pay Olympians who medal (the medals for the Paris Games are, however, monumental).
Other Olympic committees can pay their athletes, though.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), for example, is paying athletes $37,500 for every gold medal they earn. Those earning silver get $22,500 while those earning bronze get $15,000.
Compared to other participating countries, that’s relatively low.
According to an analysis by CNBC, the host country of France is paying its gold medalists 80,000 euros, or about $86,500. Gold medalists from neighboring Spain are paid roughly $102,000.
Topping out the list is Hong Kong, which is paying its gold medalists about $768,000, slightly more than Singapore’s $745,000. On the opposite end were Germany ($22,000) and Australia ($13,000).
Other countries may offer apartments, cars, and free lifetime public transit access to its winning Olympians, CNBC reports.
Track and field gold medalists have a chance at even more.
Earlier this year, World Athletics, the governing body for track, announced that there would be a first-of-its-kind $50,000 cash prize available for all of track and field’s gold medal winners in Paris. That’s a prize pool of $2.4 million spread across 48 events.
But not every athlete is in line for lucrative financial influxes from the Olympics.
“Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age. Especially female sports and female athletes,” Maggie Steffens, captain of the U.S. women’s water polo team, wrote on Instagram in May.
The post caught the attention of Flavor Flav, a founding member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy who has since become the official hype man for USA Water Polo. Fresh off his efforts to save floundering Red Lobster, has also made an undisclosed financial contribution to the women's program as part of the five-year agreement, and he also agreed to collaborate on social media to help bring attention to the sport.
Despite calls for Olympians to be paid, Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, has expressed that his committee is focused on developing sports worldwide, putting the pressure instead on National Olympic Committees (NOC) like USOPC and international federations to pay their athletes.
“The NOCs, they should use this money to provide to the Olympic Games the best athletes in their national delegation and to support them so that they can compete at the highest possible level in the Games,” Bach said during a May press conference. “And they do so and then many of them reward the athletes with prize money for winning medals or diplomas or whatever. And this is absolutely in line and fine and common practice for decades.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.