A former Team USA Olympian has revealed how much the athletes get paid, and people are shocked by the amount.
Monica Aksamit competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro for fencing, having worked her entire life towards the goal.
She began fencing at age 9, was a two-time NCAA team champion and three-time All-American; in her first and only Olympics, she secured a bronze medal for the United States team, according to her bio on the Team USA website.
Now, with the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in full swing, Aksamit has given an insight into the lives of USA Olympians—or more specifically, what they get paid.
In a post to her Threads account @monicaaksamit on February 16, she wrote: “U.S. Olympian here. When I qualified for the Olympics, the USOPC [United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee] started paying me a monthly stipend. Could anyone guess what that monthly amount was?”
She then revealed in a follow-up post, five hours later, after dozens of people made their guesses in the comments: “$300 a month. That amount did not increase or decrease after the bronze medal.” Newsweek has contacted USOPC for comment on this story.
Speaking to Newsweek, Aksamit said she has been talking about the financial aspect of competing in the Olympics since 2020, and added: “I definitely think this should be changed. Struggling financially while trying to qualify to represent their country is extremely frustrating and I went into credit debt doing it.”
Threads users were shocked, awarding her two posts more than 12,000 likes combined, with one saying it was “$300 a month for what amounts to one of the greatest athletes in the world competing on the global stage.”
One called it “unacceptable,” with another saying sarcastically it was “almost enough for food.”
Another said: “I’ve had many conversations with execs at USOPC and so many athletes. I have many friends who have to self fund who are Olympians. It’s insanely shameful that they don’t cover costs and pay a living wage to being among the best in the world.”
Others took a different approach, with one admitting: “I honestly didn’t know Olympic competitors got paid at all.”
Winners at the Olympic Games are famously awarded gold, silver and bronze medals for their achievements, but the first eight athletes in each event also receive a diploma. Countries also award their winning athletes monetary compensation for winning a medal, but the prize money differs greatly, according to CNBC.
For the 2026 Winter Olympics, Singapore is on top for the monetary reward for winning a medal: $792,000 for gold, $395,000 for silver, and $197,000 for bronze. New Zealand is at the bottom of the list, awarding $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.
The United States, meanwhile, is reported to award $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze.
According to the USOPC website, grants and funding are available for athletes who apply and are successful. This includes tuition grants, financial aid, mental health, legal aid, and medical assistance.
The medical assistance fund offers between $100 to $25,000 in funds “to pay for significant medical costs incurred by elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including necessary travel-related expenses, that are not met through available resources.”
So far in the 2026 competition, Team USA has secured a total of 19 medals: six gold, eight silver, and five bronze. Team USA currently ranks third overall in the competition, behind Italy with 23 medals, and first-place holders Norway with 28 medals, including 12 gold.
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