London Paid Over $200 Million Per Olympic Medal In 2012 Olympics

With the Summer Olympics starting July 23rd in Tokyo, Japan, finance company Loan Bird has analysed the overall cost to host nations of the past 15 Olympics to reveal which nation received the best cost per medal for their Olympic event hosting. Medal Olympics For Host Nations

City

Country

Olympic Year

Cost To Host Contry ($)

Cost Per Medal ($)

Sochi

Russia

2014

51,000,000,000

1,545,454,545.45

Nagano

Japan

1998

10,000,000,000

1,000,000,000.00

Athens

Greece

2004

15,000,000,000

937,500,000.00

Pyeongchang

South Korea

2018

13,000,000,000

764,705,882.35

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

2016

13,000,000,000

684,210,526.32

London

United Kingdom

2012

14,800,000,000

227,692,307.69

Sydney

Australia

2000

6,600,000,000

113,793,103.45

Turin

Italy

2006

700,000,000

63,636,363.64

Salt Lake City

United States

2002

2,000,000,000

58,823,529.41

Lillehammer

Norway

1994

1,100,000,000

42,307,692.31

Barcelona

Spain

1992

850,000,000

38,636,363.64

Vancouver

Canada

2010

925,000,000

35,576,923.08

Beijing[i]

China

2008

2,000,000,000

20,000,000.00

Atlanta

United States

1996

800,000,000

7,920,792.08

The 2014 Olympics Sochi, Rusia was the most expensive costing $1,545,454,545.45 per medal. During this Olympics, Sochi won 33 own medals and it cost $51,000,000,000 this country to host.

The last summer Olympics held in 2016, was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi. Costing $13,000,000,000 to host and with the United States winning. It cost host nation Brazil an eye-watering $684,210,526.32 per medal.

The London Olympics in 2021 cost $14,800,000,000 – the equivalent of $227,692,307.69 per medal when divided between the 65 medals won overall. In these games, the host nation Great Britain won 29 gold medals, making it the most successful Olympics performance for the UK since the 1908 edition.

The US held the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta and won 101 medals making them the host country to win the most medals from the past 15 Olympics. It cost the US $800,000,000 to host the Olympics, and they had the cheapest cost per medal at $7,920,792.08.

The billions of dollars per medal sure does put the pressure on home nations athletes! Do you think it’s a worthwhile investment?