Olympic Athlete Wins Gold Medal – And Free Lifetime Flights with AirAsia, $660,000 and Two Houses

The US Olympic Committee pays their athletes that bring home a gold medal $37,500 (silver medalists get $22,500 and bronze gets $15,000). Some countries pay a lot more – even some close to a million dollars for a gold medal performance! For this Olympian from the Philippines, her gold medal means national pride and a whole lot more.

Olympic Athlete Wins Gold Medal and Free Flights for Life

It has been 97 years but the Philippines has a gold medal Olympian. The gold medal came through the efforts of Hidilyn Diaz, a weightlifter. Not only did she win Olympic gold (she took silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics) but she also set a record with her 55 kg lift. That equals 280 pounds. Congratulations to her and her country in a big way!

But, it is more than national pride that Diaz gets. Her country had a purse for a gold medal win – an amount equal to $200,000. However, business owners in her country are stepping up to reward her as well so that her total prize amount is actually $660,000 – and that is all tax-free for the gold medalist!

In addition to that, she will be receiving two homes – one in Tagaytay and a condo in Eastwood, according to the NY Post. For the aviation angle, we have AirAsia stepping up with a big gift of free flights for life. They had given her 5 years of free flights for her silver medal back in 2016 so she has presumably not paid for a flight since that Olympics, as long as she flew AirAsia.

AirAsia is not that known by many in the US (unless you have traveled in Asia) but they fly to over 50 international destinations in 18 countries. They actually do sell different unlimited passes (with limits on area/region/etc) so it is possible to get one of these but a lifetime unlimited pass is not something that you can currently buy!

Congratulations to Hidilyn Diaz for both her win and her prizes! Hopefully, the time will come soon when she can really enjoy that unlimited flight pass.