I caught former Olympian and Bishop Kelly alum Nick Symmonds talking about how very few Olympic Athletes can actually make a decent living off their sport.

According to KTVB, NBC paid over $1 billion for the rights to the 2016 Olympic games, but none of that money will go to the athletes representing Team USA.  Most athletes need to find sponsors to help defray the cost of their training and travel to the Olympic games.  Some have even turned to crowd funding to help make their Rio dreams come true.

But there's got to be something in it for the medal winners right?  The medalists receive $25,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for silver or $10,000 for bronze. That's not a bad payday until you look at the chunk of that prize money Uncle Sam takes for you.

Americans for Tax Reform says that a gold medalist, like Boise's Kristin Armstrong, can expect to give up just shy of $10,000 back to the federal government.  Silver medalists are looking at around $6,000 in taxes, while bronze medalists could pay up to $4,000.  Oh...and that's just for each medal.  Imagine how much Michael Phelps is going to owe!

According to KIVI, there is a bill going through Congress right now that would take away the tax dread of winning an Olympic Medal.  The bill would make the medals and prize money tax exempt.  It's already cleared the Senate.

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