Simone Biles is set to leave France with four Olympic medals, having won three golds and one silver in this year’s competition. However, her financial gain from these achievements will not be as substantial as some might expect.
Biles secured gold in the Women’s Artistic Individual All-Around, Women’s Vault, and Women’s Balance Beam, and earned a silver medal in the Women’s Floor event on Monday.
According to Forbes, American athletes at the Olympics receive $37,500 for each gold medal, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze. Based on Team USA’s payout system, Biles is due a total of $135,000 for her four medals. This amount is considerably less than the $750,000 signing bonus her husband, Jonathan Owens, received upon signing his last NFL contract.
Fans have expressed surprise and frustration over Biles’s earnings, especially considering the vast revenues generated by the Olympics.
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“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.
“It’s shameful,” read another comment.
Despite what many consider to be a meager sum from her Olympic achievements, Simone Biles has a net worth of $25 million, according to Celebritynetworth.com. Like most Olympic athletes, Biles earns the majority of her income through brand endorsements. She 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 remainder from gymnastics. She was the 14th highest-paid female athlete last year.
While the Olympic prize money may seem insufficient, Biles’s financial success largely stems from her endorsement deals, which highlight her status as one of the most marketable athletes in the world.
