PARIS, France — Sha'Carri Richardson will be leaving Paris with two Olympic medals and a paycheck, but it may not be as much money as you'd expect.
The American sprinting star earned the silver medal in the women's 100-meter dash, then led the U.S. team to a gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay.
While U.S. athletes aren't specifically paid to compete at the Olympics, the U.S. is one of the countries that provides bonuses for winning medals. And for the first time this year, the governing body of track and field, World Athletics, announced it would pay gold medal winners in track and field at the Paris Olympics, the first sport to do so at the Summer Games.
In Tokyo, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee gave out $37,500 for each gold medal, $22,500 for each silver medal and $15,000 for each bronze medal earned at the Games. Those numbers vary from country to country, and not every country awards bonuses to medal winners.
Based off those numbers, Richardson will earn $60,000 from Team USA for winning her two medals.
How much Richardson will get from World Athletics is a bit unclear. While solo track and field gold medalists at the Paris Olympics can make $50,000, the relay teams split $50,000 among their members. If that money is split evenly among the four Americans who ran in the final and prelims, she'd receive $12,500 extra.
That amount likely pales in comparison to her sponsorship with Nike. While the details of that aren't public, it's been reported to be a multi-year multi-million-dollar deal.
By comparison to another American Olympic story, Simone Biles is believed to be earning a $135,000 bonus for winning her three gold medals and one silver medal in Paris.