The United States delegation sails in a boat along the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024.
Zhao Dingzhe | AFP | Getty images
On Wednesday, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced on Wednesday a subsidy of $ 100 million to provide long-term financial support for future Olympic athletes.
The gift, the biggest gift in the history of the organization, comes from Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Asset Manager Stone Ridge Holdings Group. It happens as awareness of the financial charge that many Olympic athletes face: rigid training hours are often made to the detriment of traditional career paths with financial savings.
As part of the gift, each Olympic and Paralympic athlete participates in the 2026 Games in Milan and the future games until 2032 will receive $ 200,000 in financial services. The six -digit price is paid by Olympic Games in which the athlete is in competition, and there is no maximum.
“Due to the extraordinary generosity of Ross and the philanthropic creativity, we can create more than a financial security net – we can build a springboard that will propel these athletes to even higher peaks beyond their Olympic and Paralympic careers,” said Gene Sykes, president of the USOPC, in a press release.
However, there is a catch: the money does not stop immediately.
The first $ 100,000 are not starting in 20 years after the matches or until the athlete is 45 years old, according to the first possibility. It will be distributed over four years but can be used at any end whatsoever “as starting a business or supporting their families,” suggests the USOPC.
The remaining $ 100,000 will be given to the families of athletes eligible for their death.
“This is an incredible gift that will bring together huge dividends for these athletes later in life,” said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the USOPC. “This does not replace the idea of also trying to generate philanthropic funds for athletes now and today, and we do it too.”
Hirshland said that although there were Olympic athletes who rattle a lot of money in approval agreements, the vast majority of Olympic athletes do not fall into this category.
“There is no salary that accompanies these roles, there is certainly no retirement program,” she told CNBC.
The United States is unique in that 100% of the work does the USOPC is funded by private. Many countries have sports ministries that operate and finance their Olympic teams.
Some other nations also pay beautiful sums for the Olympic competitors who win a medal at home. Medalists can earn up to $ 750,000 for gold in certain jurisdictions.
As a rule, the American delegation has around 1,200 athletes, among the largest and often by a wide margin.
“We also have the most successful team in the world and in history, a much larger group of competition athletes than most countries,” said Hirshland. “Thus, the scale and the scope of what we do here are very different from many of our peers from the whole world.”
Disclosure: CNBC Parent Nbcuniversal has NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. The NBC Olympic Games are the holder of the US broadcasting rights in all summer and winter matches until 2032.