(Kitco News) – U.S. athletes continue to make Olympic history, racking up a total of 121 medals in Rio, 46 of which were gold.
“As the Rio Olympics drew to a close on Sunday evening, Team USA stood top of the medal table by a long distance. They won 121 medals in total, their most successful haul since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,” statistics online portal Statista noted on Monday.
At current prices, the metal content of Team USA’s 2016 Rio winnings are roughly worth $11,854.20 of gold and $25,146.64 of silver. This is based on the price per gram of each medal, which the Brazilian Mint told Kitco News weighed 500 grams each. The mint also noted that the gold medal is made up of only 6g of gold and 494g for silver, while the second-place prize was made entirely of silver – 500g.
The most decorated Olympian, swimmer Michael Phelps, once again caused waves this year – no pun intended – after hauling in five gold medals and one silver medal, roughly worth $3,100.20 at current gold and silver prices. Meanwhile, gymnast Simone Biles’ four gold medals were worth $2,236.16.
However, even if Olympic fans in America may be rejoicing, it may actually be the Internal Revenue Agency that is having a field day. According Americans for Tax Reform, Olympic winnings are subject to taxation and a “gold medalist from Team USA could end up facing a tax bill of $9,900 per gold medal, $5,940 per silver medal, and $3,960 per bronze medal.”
If we crunch the numbers, the IRS is looking to rake in some $825,660 from this year’s Olympic Games – $455,400 for gold medals, $219,780 for silver, and $150,480 for bronze.
On Monday, gold stood at around $42.95 per gram, while silver prices traded at $0.61 per gram.
By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com
Follow @SdBenali
