Winter Olympics by the numbers: Going for gold scores athletes $15,000 more than winning silver!

WASHINGTON — The 2022 Winter Olympics may end up being called the “Olympics on a budget.” A new study reveals the Beijing Winter Games have an estimated budget of $3.9 billion. It may sound like a lot, but it’s actually 14 times less than the record-setting 2014 Sochi Games.

Estimates also show the ad revenue for the 2022 games will bring in around $600 million. Although prices always seem to go up year after year, that’s actually a 10-percent drop in revenue from the 2018 Winter Games.

The WalletHub study took a look at the history of the Olympic games and where this year’s event stands in comparison to prior winter events. 2022 is also the first time in 14 years that the Olympics have taken place in China. However, the 2008 Beijing games were the Summer Olympics — making Beijing the first city to ever host both the Summer and Winter Games. It’s no problem for the Chinese capital, though, since the average daytime temperature in February is 42 degrees and the average nighttime temperature is a chilly 22.

No fans allowed

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Olympics are once again only seeing sparse crowds. In fact, no foreign tourists will visit China during this year’s event. Additionally, the 2022 games mark the second straight event where NHL players are not attending to participate in the hockey tournament.

Meanwhile, the Olympics are still a great opportunity for the greatest athletes in the world to get together for two weeks. The study finds nearly 3,000 athletes from 91 nations are participating in the 2022 games.

It’s also a banner year for women, as more than 45 percent of the Olympic athletes are female — the highest number ever at the Winter Games. As for Team USA, 223 Americans are on the squad in 2022, an all-time record for the Winter Olympics.

Go for gold, it literally pays more!

When it comes to playing it safe or taking a risk and going for the gold medal, American athletes might want to consider how much that medal is worth! The survey finds winning a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics nets an athlete a bonus of $37,500. Bringing home silver comes with a bonus of $22,500, while a bronze medal nets a respectable $15,000 bonus.

The Olympics are always filled with inspirational stories of underdog athletes finishing on the podium. For these athletes, there’s even more good news! The “victory tax” for winning a medal is zero dollars if the athlete has an annual income of less than $1 million.

Speaking of the podium, the Beijing games mark the 90th anniversary of the creation and use of a medal podium at the Olympic games.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *