Olympic Gold Medallist Carolina Marin Shocked At How Much PV Sindhu Earned As Reward For Her Rio Silver

Only an Olympian would know the difference between the value of gold and silver medal. There's nothing bigger than winning an Olympic gold medal for your country. But sometimes the earned value of an Olympic silver medal is far more than a gold medal.

That's exactly what happened with PV Sindhu's silver medal which she won at the Rio Games last year. When Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin, who beat Sindhu in the final of the Rio 2016 women's singles badminton event, found out how much her rival had earned as reward for her after the Games, she was shocked. Sindhu had become the first female athlete from India to win a silver medal in Olympic history.

AFP

Sindhu's second-placed finish at the Rio Olympics fetched her almost Rs 13 crore apart from the various other perks like land from the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments, luxury cars etc. On the other hand, Carolina was awarded 94,000 Euros for gold that amounts to approximately Rs 70 lakh.

"I heard she (Sindhu) got millions. That’s huge. I, too, got some cash award from the Spanish government. I actually roughly received 10-15 % of the money Sindhu got, but this is a great indicator that the sport is so popular here. Back in Spain, it’s only popular in certain regions, even there the craze isn't this big. So the country is a model of sorts for commercial development of the sport," Carolina said on the sidelines of the Premier Badminton League.

AFP

However, if Carolina can take her PBL side Hyderabad Hunters to the title win, she stands a chance to win a handsome prize money as well.