Besides the Gold Medal, How Much Money Did Lydia Ko Earn From the Paris Olympics Win? All Benefits Unveiled
For men’s golf, Scottie Scheffler won the gold with 50 OWGR points and $37,500 as a cash prize. Yes, the cash prizes are subjective and change from country to country. What about women’s golf? What will gold medalist Lydia Ko get after beautifully claiming this achievement at the Paris Olympics?
First and foremost, Ko will receive the 18-gram hexagonal gold medal itself. Aside from that, she will also receive $40,000 annually as a bonus prize from her country, New Zealand, until the next Olympics in 2028, as mentioned by Forbes. The benefits will also include exemptions from the next five LPGA majors, including the AIG Women’s Open, which is scheduled in the next two weeks.
The 27-year-old will be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, considering she needs only one point for that, and the Paris Olympics will grant her that. Lastly, her world rankings will also witness a significant boost. Although, the exact number of points she will get is not known.
Lydia Ko wins the gold medal at #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/WA9RU4WwUC
— Olympic Golf (@OlympicGolf) August 10, 2024
Esther Henseleit finished just after Ko with a total of 280 8-under-par and claimed a silver medal for Germany. Some reports suggest that Germany awards $22,000 for a gold medal, $17,000 for a silver medal, and $11,000 for a bronze medal at the Olympics. Claiming the bronze medal at the Le Golf National is Xiyu Lin who finished with a total of 281 7-under-par.
Yes, China also awards some bonus rewards to the athletes claiming medals. However, there is no specific prize money breakdown available that is awarded to Chinese medalists. So, it’s hard to say whether the aforementioned rewards are the same for Chinese golfers. As for Ko, she finished with a total of 278 10-under-par, but it was full of ups and downs for the golfer, and it was not easy.
Lydia Ko’s journey to gold at the Paris Olympics
Ko was off to an interesting start and carded one bogey, four birdies, and one double bogey and finished with a 72 in the first round. Things improved significantly for Ko in the second round as she carded six birdies and one bogey. Thanks to that the 27-year-old shot 67 in the second round. Coming to the third round she shot a 4-under 68 and claimed the lead. However, Morgane Metraux of Switzerland wasn’t far behind and she made a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th, which helped her finish with a 71 and quickly catch up to Ko.
Moving to the final round the leaderboard witnessed a significant change. Metraux dropped to T18 after shooting a 79 in the final round, which included four bogeys, two birdies, and two double bogeys. Meanwhile, Esther Henseleit and Xiyu Lin started crawling up. As for Lydia Ko, she shot a 71 with four birdies, one bogey, and one double bogey and maintained the lead to claim the historic gold.
With her beautiful win at the Le Golf National, Ko completed her medal trifecta, as she had already won a silver, and gold in Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo respectively. What are your thoughts on Lydia Ko’s victory in Paris? Did you have goosebumps like we did?
