Ah, Olympic medals. They're shiny, meaningful and apparently expensive as hell for the athletes.

For every medal an American athlete wins, the U.S. Olympic Committee drops some cash. For every gold, you get $25,000. For every silver, $15,000. And for every bronze, you get $10,000.

But those big Olympian smiles probably change just a bit when the victors realize Uncle Sam is coming.

According to Americans for Tax Reform, Olympians could pay as much as $9,900 for gold, $5,940 for silver or $3,960 for bronze. PER MEDAL.

But luckily, a bill in the House right now would make medals and prize money tax exempt. It's already passed the Senate.

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Members of the conversion crew take a break as the main scoreboard is lowered to the floor to be worked on as the arena gets ready for the next concert at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Atlanta. The crew was working on creating a stage for the Friday, Oct. 3 Maxwell concert. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com