Winners now get cash for medals

SYDNEY, Australia — U.S. athletes have a chance to bring home more than just some gold from the Sydney Olympics.

There's a pot of money awaiting all from the lowliest badminton player to the top track and field stars who win medals in Sydney.

Unlike the amateurs of Olympics past — who were strictly forbidden from accepting any compensation — today's Olympians will be competing for cold, hard cash as well as national glory Down Under.

There's $65,000 on the table for every gold medal won by a U.S. swimmer, not bad considering Amy Van Dyken won four of them in Atlanta. A gold figures to be worth at least $125,000 apiece to every member of the U.S. women's soccer team.

Even athletes in mostly overlooked sports such as windsurfing or canoe-kayak will get at least $15,000 from the U.S. Olympic Committee for a gold.

Some, of course, have cashed in well before the games. Track and field stars Marion Jones and Michael Johnson are rich from endorsement deals and sponsorships, with Johnson routinely getting up to $100,000 just to appear in European meets.

The U.S. men's basketball team is also full of millionaires, who might earn in one NBA quarter what they could by winning the Olympic gold. The $100 a day they get in expenses is merely tip money, while players are expected to follow the lead of the 1996 team and donate their $15,000 gold medal checks to charity.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong doesn't need his check, either. He's under contract for $2 million a year to ride for the U.S. Postal Service team, and deals with Nike and others bring his total income to some $7 million.

But Olympic athletes who in the past may have had to take a job to make ends meet are also richer than ever. Though many still toil in obscurity with little reward, others routinely make six-figure incomes even in non-Olympic years.

It's a far cry from the day when Mark Spitz won seven swimming golds in 1972 but had to retire to make any money off of them.

Swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg, who holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes, gets six figures alone from swimsuit manufacturer Speedo and has six other endorsement deals to go along with it.

"You can devote all your time to swimming and not worry about where you're going to make your money," Krayzelburg said. "Ten years ago that wasn't possible. You'd have to stop your swimming earlier than you wanted to."