COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As part of a continued effort to direct more resources to athletes, the United States Olympic Committee board of directors voted today to increase Operation Gold Awards for Paralympic athletes by as much as 400 percent. Paralympians and Olympians will now earn equal payouts for medal performances, and payments will be retroactively distributed to include medals won at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
“Paralympians are an integral part of our athlete community and we need to ensure we’re appropriately rewarding their accomplishments,” said USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland. “Our financial investment in U.S. Paralympics and the athletes we serve is at an all-time high, but this was one area where a discrepancy existed in our funding model that we felt needed to change. I’m thrilled that we’ve brought parity and equality to our Operation Gold program and we're eager to continue to build on Team USA’s success in PyeongChang.”
Operation Gold provides monetary rewards to athletes who earn medals at Paralympic and Olympic Games.
Paralympic athletes will now receive $37,500 for each gold medal earned at the Paralympic Games, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.
The U.S. Paralympic Team won 36 medals and topped the medal table at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, and the increased payments will be made retroactively for all medals won in 2018. This retroactive increase will place more than $1.2 million in the hands of 2018 Paralympic medalists.