Athletes competing in Beijing are not paid for their participation, but American competitors who come out on top are rewarded in cash by the US Olympic Committee. Of course, the real money is in promotional contracts: Some of the most stellar athletes, like Michael Phelps, bring in millions with marketing deals.

Do you know how much the gold, silver, and bronze medalists are given as prizes for being the best? Take the quiz!
1 of 3Question 1

Juicy Couture
Laura Scott
Stella McCartney
Hm. Less than I expected. 1/3
1Whoohoo! Platinum b*tches!
2Phelps gets $1 million if he breaks the medal record
3yay! i got it right. so basically they are saying that michael phelps is in a position to make about $200k at this year's olympics...that's not too bad - and that's completely aside from his current endorsement deals and the ones that will come as a result of the games
4Yeah Speedo is giving Phelps a million dollar bonus if he breaks the record and gets 8 gold medals. I was kind of expecting more money for winning, but I guess the atheletes should be in it for the glory of winning, not the prize money.
5wow, I totally didn't know the USOC paid!
6i was way off. but those monetary denominations make sense.
7I think this kind of takes away from the olympic spirit. I mean I know these athletes train hard but it makes me feel kind of icky to think that they aren't just taking part in the sports to be the best they can be. I don't know maybe I'm making to much of it but it cheapens the idea of the Olympics for me
8^ but also alot of the training before they get to the olympics is funded by themselves their level of training is intense and exetremely expensive so the way I see it, its like rembursiment for the money they paid in training
9The only reason I knew the athletes get paid was cause of Joey Cheeks encouraging them to donate some of their bonuses to his Darfur charity...
but
for my 100%!
10i didn't Olympic athletes got paid. I would have competed had I know. j/k
11I didn't even know they got paid lol, so 0/3.
12Me neither - didn't know they got paid. Lucky them!
13I bomb-diggidied!!!!
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