Alright, let me tell you about this whole “Hong Kong Gold Medal Bonus” thing I got myself into. I heard about this fat reward they’re giving out to athletes from Hong Kong who score medals at the Olympics. It sounded crazy, but I had to dig deeper.
First off, I started by looking into how much these bonuses actually are. Turns out, it’s a lot. We’re talking US$768,000 for a gold medal, US$384,000 for silver, and US$192,000 for bronze. Can you believe that? Other sources also mentioned that these amounts are going up by 20% for the Paris 2024 Olympics. It is incredible! That’s some serious motivation right there.
I then started comparing these numbers to what other countries are offering. The US, for example, gives out US$38,000 for gold, US$23,000 for silver, and US$15,000 for bronze. That’s way less than what Hong Kong is offering. The difference is crazy.
Next, I looked at some other countries known for big bonuses. Kazakhstan is apparently giving out US$370,000 for gold, and Malaysia is offering US$353,000. Hong Kong is still way ahead, though.
I also came across some interesting numbers for Paralympic athletes from Hong Kong. A gold medal gets them HK$1.5 million, silver is HK$750,000, and bronze is HK$375,000. It’s not as high as the Olympic bonuses, but still, it’s a big deal.
Now, I wanted to see how this affects the athletes’ regular income. Some top athletes like fencers Vivian Kong and Edgar Cheung, and swimmer Siobhan Haughey, reportedly get HK$44,500 per month. That’s on top of the bonuses they can get from winning medals.
So, I dug into the history of Hong Kong at the Winter Olympics. Turns out, they haven’t won any medals in their five previous appearances. That’s why their gold medal bonus is so high, I guess. They really want to motivate their athletes.
In the end, I realized that this whole Hong Kong Gold Medal Bonus thing is a big deal. It’s all about pushing athletes to do their best and giving them a big reward if they succeed. It’s a bit crazy to think about those huge amounts of money, but hey, winning an Olympic medal is a huge achievement, and it deserves a big celebration. And I learned that a total of 15 countries offer six-figure bonuses for Olympic medals, with Hong Kong leading the pack. It’s a pretty wild system, but it’s definitely interesting to see how it all works.
