For any athlete, a gold medal at a world championship and at the Olympics can mean a confirmation of their value and supremacy in the sports. Any medal is good, but a gold medal means you're the best at that time.
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Besides the medal and the fame that comes with it, after all they are making history, in most of the cases their country is rewarding them with different sums, based on the color of their medals. Obviously, the more medals you get, the bigger the reward and this can also be motivating. However, this is not a rule, not every country has adopted this nice habit.
According to CNBC, there are the best 12 countries when it comes to rewarding athletes. The first one, Singapore is quite shocking. I mean I'm very happy to see a gold medal would bring you $737,000 USD, but compared to the second one on the list, it's absolutely shocking. Comparing Singapore with Australia is even more shocking. If you like Australian gold medalists get 2% of what a gold medalist from Singapore gets.
What surprises me on that list is Kazakhstan and South Africa, for different reasons though. The ex Soviet union country is the ninth-largest country in the world. It has a population of 18.8 million residents, and has one of the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per sq mi). The country is not exactly a superpower and economically obviously is way behind other countries, yet they know what to do to put the country's name on the Olympic map. So far they have 8 bronze medals and I expect them to get more at the next edition.
I don't think I have to say much about South Africa. They are in a difficult economic situation and it doesn't look like things are improving. Yet, them as well as Kazakhstan are trying to motivate athletes the best way they can.
The rest of the countries that are not on the list, most likely get less, or nothing at all. The New York Times had an article that said Norwegian athletes may get a congratulation letter from the King. Obviously it's an honor to get a letter from the King, not many can have one, however, a letter can't substitute a nice financial reward, nor can pay your bills.
However, there are countries in much worse situation than you think. There are countries, where athletes not only get no financial compensation for their outstanding results, but face different kinds of punishments, if they don't deliver or don't do what they are told. This usually happens in communist or totalitarian countries, where athletes have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, they say!
At the Tokyo Olympics there has been a sad case that I can't get out of my head.
The subject of this ugly case is a Belorussian athlete, who's life took a dramatic turn during the Olympics. Kristina Timanovskaya is a sprinter who should have run 200m in Tokyo but instead the Belorussian Olympic committee has decided she has to run in the 4 脳 400 m relay race.
Usually trainers know best what their athletes are capable of, how they can use their strength to get better results, that's their job. However, in this case the athlete and her previous training mattered less. Her country decided for her and that was an order.
When Kristina Timanovskaya made the whole thing public on one of the social media platform, all hell broke lose.
Long story short, she was put in a car, drove to the airport to be sent home, while the Belorussian media started to spread rumors that she's not feeling well mentally. After asking for help as she feared for her life, many European countries rushed to help and at the end she landed in Poland, being granted a humanitarian visa.
This is the saddest story and can't even begin to understand the struggle the other Belorussian athletes are going through. This kind of mental terror should never be allowed.
Countries that don't respect human rights and their athletes are going to face the consequences. The president of the Belorussian Olympic Committee has been the Belorussian president himself. He has passed on the title to his son and both have been banned from participating at the Olympics, past and present, due to what's going on in the country.
Due to the treatment Kristina Timanovskaya has been put through two coaches have lost their accreditation and have been sent home.
These athletes are training all their lives, sacrifice their youth to be able to participate at these events and represent their country. Rewarding them and treating them with respect is the minimum a country can do for them.