Canada's Sarault has earned $55K for her 3 medals so far. If she were Italian, it would be nearly 7 times that

Courtney Sarault sat at a picnic table in the sun at the Olympic Village, her latest medal — a silver in women's short track 1,000 metres, to join the silver and bronze she’d already won in Milan — gleaming beside her. She had put four years of hard work and hope into Monday morning’s race. Her prize, by the most basic of measures, was a surprisingly heavy chunk of metal on a ribbon.

As Canada’s most decorated athlete so far, she will also collect $55,000 when she gets home: $15,000 for each of her silvers, $10,000 for her bronze, and an additional $5,000 for each medal from the foundation established by Sanjay Malaviya, a health-care technology entrepreneur.

Sarault knew, the way all Canadian athletes know, that winning has its financial rewards. She was surprised when she was told the exact figure.

“Okay, there’s some cash flow,” she said. “Thanks for letting me know. When I’m back in my condo paying my bills, that will be nice to have.”

But if she were Italian, she’d be receiving a cheque for about $389,000. If she were Polish, she’d be coming home to about $211,000, as well as a furnished apartment, a car, and a collection of gifts that might include artwork or jewelry.

And if she were Singaporean, she could look forward to finding about $1,350,000 in the bank.

The host Italians, racking up medals in record numbers, have been especially vocal about their windfalls. “When you hear that,” Sarault said, “you’re definitely like, Oh, wow, okay. Good for you guys!”

What Canada’s medallists receive is part of the wider conversation about funding that happens every Olympic year.

The money for medals — a gold is worth $20,000 — isn’t from taxpayers. It comes out of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Excellence Fund, which