How much is it cost per person representing US or Canada in Olympics games (Beijing)?

Question

I always wanted to know how much does US or Canada (or just another country in the world) pays for one athlete ready for compete in Olympics.

Answer 1

The US pays a LOT for their Olympic athletes to train, and endorsements for winners like Phelps are in the mega millions.

In Canada, Olympic athletes barely get by financially, and endorsements are quite small even if they do win.

The focus for Canada is on Winter Olympic atheletes, who get a significantly higher funding from Ottawa than do the Summer Olympic athletes.

As you can tell, Canada historically finishes with few Summer Olympic medals, and used to do the same in the Winter Games, but since Nagano 1998, Canada has been one of the medal leaders in the Winter Games.  And they expect to finish in the top three in Vancouver 2010 with the "Own The Podium" program.

Answer 2

True, US pays way more for the summer Olympics. Me as a Canadian, I know Canada doesn't support their summer Olympians as much as their winter Olympians.