Shannon Sharpe and Ocho Announce Six Figure Incentives for Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Other Athletes to Strive for Gold

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee recently confirmed that it will retain the compensation for medal-winning athletes from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This means that the committee will pay just $37,500 to gold medalists. Considering the hard work athletes undergo for such a major event, many feel that they deserve more, especially NFL’s favorite analysts Shannon Sharpe and Chad ‘Ocho’ Johnson.

During a recent episode of ‘Nightcap,’ Unc and Ocho expressed their bafflement at the low compensation that American athletes get for winning a gold medal for the country; that too, at the highest stage. Unc summed up the unfairness of the compensation with the example of track runner Noah Lyles.

Sharpe noted that Lyles worked hard for four long years to get his speed under 9 seconds. Thus, the former NFL star believes that rewarding the relentless hard work and talent of athletes like Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, among others, with $37,500 is a joke.

To address this issue, Ocho and Sharpe announced that they would award $25,000 to every gold medalist this year. Moreover, if an athlete manages to break a world record in the process, the athlete would receive $50,000 each from the hosts.

As soon as the episode aired, fans lauded the duo’s intentions and initiative. A few even compared the dismal compensation with staggering bonuses from countries like Hong Kong to highlight the disparity.

Hong Kong set to award $768k as a bonus for a gold medal win

In its Olympic history, Hong Kong has only had two gold medal wins. Hence, it’s no surprise to see the Asian country awarding the highest medal-winning bonus by a participating country this year. Following Hong Kong are Israel and Serbia, with $275,000 and $218,000, respectively.

Basic economics teaches that demand declines when supply rises. The top three countries exhibit the same, albeit in terms of their medal-winning prowess. The US, on the other hand, is a medal-winning machine at the Olympics.

So compensating every medal winner with $200,000 each would end up in millions in compensation. But at the same time, for one of the most successful and richest countries in the world, a $37,500 compensation is still arguably low.

Ocho summed it up best when he said, “You done bust your a** for four years straight to represent our country, and the payout, saying, ‘Thank you for the work you put in is 37 fu*king thousand? Come on man!”

That said, Ocho and Unc should be lauded for this generous initiative. As of now, the USA has won 20 medals, including three gold medals. It will be interesting to see where the country finishes at the end of the tournament, as the USA’s favorable matches are yet to come.