Note: This story was originally published on our site August 28. We're resurfacing it for the close of the Paralympics this weekend.
Our Olympic fever will finally break this weekend.
Over the past two weeks, we've been devouring Paralympic coverage. Some 4,000 Paralympic athletes compete in sports like para archery, blind football, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair racing. It got us wondering how they make money.
U.S. Paralympians began earning the same amount of money for medaling as Olympians starting with the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021. Now all U.S. athletes earn $37,500 for every gold medal, while silver medalists earn $22,500 and bronze medalists earn $15,000. These amounts are awarded by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee's Operation Gold program.
Other governments and private sponsors also award athletes for medaling in the form of cash and gifts. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, the governing bodies of these games, do not award athletes for medaling.
During the last Summer Paralympics, U.S. athletes earned a total of 104 medals.
U.S. Paralympians previously received $7,500 for gold, $5,250 for silver and $3,750 for bronze. Now that those numbers have increased, the extra money will provide much-needed financial relief for the athletes. Making it to the Olympics and Paralympics is expensive, with many competitors taking on jobs while they train long hours. It costs athletes, on average, $12,000 to participate, according to a report by the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics
"Paralympic athletes continue to face financial barriers to participation through the extra costs of training, equipment, and travel on top of the costs faced by high-performance athletes generally," according to the report.
The price of a new racing wheelchair can range between $5,000 and $10,000, while replacing individual parts can cost hundreds, according to the USOPC's website on Paralympics Track & Field coverage.
Ben Washburne, a U.S. Paralympic rower who's competing at the games, told Marketplace he gets support from the United States Rowing Association, which gives him access to boats, coaches and training equipment. He also gets a monthly stipend, but he has to work a business development job at a green energy company to pay for his rent.
Other countries, like Australia and Canada, will also reward Paralympians who win gold, silver and bronze the same amount as Olympians.
In Canada, Paralympians who win gold will receive $20,000 in Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $14,850 U.S. dollars, while Australian gold medalists will receive $20,000, or about $13,550 in U.S. dollars.
Money messes with all our lives, but the right purchase at the right time can make things a little better. Tell us how you've treated yourself lately by replying to this email, and we'll include the best stories in our newsletter!
This week's splurge comes from financial educator Sahirenys Pierce. She's the founder of the site Poised Finance & Lifestyle, where she coined the High-5 Banking Method. She was just on "Financially Inclined" talking about savings accounts, and she sent in this splurge:
After years of using the same mattress, my husband began experiencing some back pain. We considered everything -- posture at his desks and lifestyle changes like stretching before bed -- but we suspected it was the mattress all along. We use multiple bank accounts to clearly track our money, and we decided to set funds aside in our short-term goals account specifically for a new mattress.
While shopping around, we discovered a hybrid model combining memory foam and springs, which was highly recommended due to my husband's height. We were so excited to have finally chosen our next mattress, but the price tag of $2,549 was a bit much. However, I live by a motto that eases the shock of such hefty purchases: "I'm okay with splurging on higher-quality items that offer more value and would last longer, especially for something I use every day, like my bed."
Fortunately, we stumbled upon a "mattress sale" offering a sweet discount of $1,020. Coupled with cashback from my Rakuten app and additional rewards from our credit card, we managed to reduce the cost to around $1,400. This made the purchasing process extremely smooth and rewarding. Now, I get to enjoy the best sleep of my life, knowing we made a valuable splurge that I don't regret.