Simone Biles is set to leave France with four Olympic medals, having won three gold and one silver in this year’s competition, but she won’t be significantly richer for it.
Biles won gold in the Women’s Artistic Individual All-Around, Women’s Artistic Individual All-Around, and the Women’s Vault last week. She won silver in the Women’s Floor event on Monday.
According to Forbes, Americans at the Olympics will receive $37,500 for each gold medal won and $22,500 for silver, while bronze medalists will get $15,000. The superstar gymnast is due a total of $135,000 based on Team USA’s payout system, which is considerably less than the $750,000 signing bonus her husband, Jonathan Owens, got paid upon inking his last NFL contract.
It appears fans expected her to make a lot more, and they could be forgiven for harboring the notion given how lavishly American athletes get paid.
“The Olympics makes billions of dollars every four years, name a bigger scam, I’ll wait!” one fan raged.
“Do you know the Olympics pays athletes nothing?” another asked.
“The best athletes in the world! NOTHING!” another declared.
“I was just reading about Olympian salaries and it’s honestly disgusting that the Olympics don’t pay more,” someone else wrote.
I was just reading about olympians salaries and it’s honestly disgusting that the Olympics don’t pay more….. it seems like if you’re not winning medals you get no money. https://t.co/Nx6dVqrKFD
— ✨3993 ✨ (@auntieChrissyyy) August 1, 2024
“It’s shameful,” another comment read.
Simone Biles Is Still Worth Millions
Despite making what many consider to be a meager sum from her exploits at the games, Simone Biles has a net worth of $25 million, per Celebritynetworth.com.
Like most Olympic athletes, Biles makes most of her money through brand endorsements and is believed to have made around $20 million between 2019 and 2021.
Forbes notes that the 27-year-old brought in $7.1 million in 2023, with $7 million coming from endorsements and the rest from gymnastics. She was the 14th highest-paid female athlete last year.
