USA Swimming is implementing an ambitious bonus plan that could pay up to $1 million at the Paris Olympics for a gold-medal relay sweep, national team managing director Lindsay Mintenko tells Sports Illustrated.
The bonus structure will go into effect this year for the FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. USA Swimming will award $500,000 if the U.S. wins all seven relays at that meet, or a $150,000 payout if the nation makes the medals podium in all seven. Next year in Paris, the bonuses would jump to $1 million for sweeping all seven relays, or $250,000 for earning medals in all relay events.
The bonus pool would be split equally among all USA Swimming team members for those competitions, including open-water swimmers. That’s roughly 50 athletes on both the World Championships and Olympic teams.
