The great performance by Team USA in the Olympics is paying off.  USA Wrestling announced that a record $950,000 in performance bonuses will be paid out to the 2020 Olympic medalists.  This is a much deserved bonus for our wrestlers that represented our country so well in Tokyo in the Olympic Games. 

The money from the Living the Dream Medal Fund is made possible from private donors and USA Wrestling. The LDMF pays out performance bonuses for the Olympics and World Championships. Since the LDMF began in 2009, a total of $3,700,000 has been paid out to USA Wrestlers for medaling in the World and Olympic Championships. 

From USA Wrestling:

The Living the Dream Medal Fund is led by a group of individual donors who are called Stewards, along with support from USA Wrestling and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

During Olympic years, the fund provides $250,000 for an Olympic gold medal, $50,000 for an Olympic silver medal and $25,000 for an Olympic bronze medal. For the third straight Olympic Games, the Living the Dream Medal Fund provided wrestlers with the highest level of individual bonuses of any Olympic sport in the United States.

This is a great program to have in place.  In the past wrestlers had to take a full time job usually as a coach and simply could not afford to continue wrestling at the International level.  What a great program that I hope will continue in the future.  It would be great to see the momentum of the recent Olympic success attract additional donors and maybe more involvement from corporate America. More capital would make this program even better.

I hope that Bill Zadick and Terry Steiner earned a deserved bonus for the recent Olympic success.  Those two former Iowa national champions are doing an outstanding job as the head coach for the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle programs for USA Wrestling.

 

LIVING THE DREAM MEDAL FUND 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES BONUS PAYMENTS

$250,000 – Tamyra Mensah-Stock, 2020 women’s freestyle Olympic champion (68 kg)

$250,000 – David Taylor, 2020 men’s freestyle Olympic champion (86 kg)

$250,000 – Gable Steveson, 2020 men’s freestyle Olympic champion (125 kg)

$50,000 – Adeline Gray, 2020 women’s freestyle Olympic silver medal (76 kg)

$50,000 – Kyle Snyder, 2020 men’s freestyle Olympic silver medal (97 kg)

$25,000 – Thomas Gilman, 2020 men’s freestyle Olympic bronze medal (57 kg)

$25,000 – Helen Maroulis, 2020 women’s freestyle Olympic bronze medal (57 kg)

$25,000 – Kyle Dake, 2020 men’s freestyle Olympic bronze medal (74 kg)

$25,000 – Sarah Hildebrandt, 2020 women’s freestyle Olympic bronze medal (50 kg)

Total Olympic Games payout- $950,000

 

Annual Living the Dream Medal Fund payouts

2009 – $65,000

2010 – $40,000

2011 – $95,000

2012 – $575,000

2013 – $95,000

2014 – $135,000

2015 – $245,000

2016 – $600,000

2017 – $270,000

2018 – $350,000

2019 – $280,000

2021 – $950,000

Total payout: $3,700,000

 

U.S. wrestlers will be eligible to receive Living the Dream Medal Fund bonuses at the 2021 Senior World Championships in Oslo, Norway, October 2-10.

Congratulations to the wrestlers that received the bonus payments.  You earned every cent.  And a special thank you to the benefactors that donated the money to make this program a reality.

Go USA!

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!