3 Italian Olympic gold medalists are getting over $200,000 each for winning in Beijing, the most generous prize of any Winter Olympic nation

• Italy is paying its athletes more than any other country for their performances in Beijing.
• It's giving its gold medal winners $201,000 and its silver medal winners $101,000.

Winning an Olympic gold medal for your country is generally a big enough prize in itself for any athlete.

But in Italy, those who won gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics have also been given an extra large cash prize for their victories worth more than $200,000.

That's according to Forbes, which reports the European delegation is awarding its athletes a total of $2.7 million for their performances at the games, which is more money than any other country on earth.

According to CNBC, the amount is even higher at $213,000 per gold medal-winning athlete.

Italy won a total of 17 medals in Beijing — two gold, seven silver, and eight bronze. The country's two golds came from speed skater Arianna Fontana and the mixed curling pair of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosander.

Those who won silver medals will receive $101,000 from the country's Olympic committee, reports Forbes, while those who won bronze medals will each pocket $67,000. CNBC's estimates are $107,000 and $67,000 respectively.

Athletes in team sports will collect the same prize money as those in individual sports. For example, Italy's six short-track speed skaters who won silver in the mixed 2,000 meter relay will collectively earn $604,000, per Forbes' estimates.

Athletes who won multiple medals will also receive pay outs for each medal, such as snowboarder Omar Visintin who will receive $168,000 for his silver and bronze.

Italy's offerings for its Winter Olympians are extremely generous compared to a number of other countries.

The United States, for example, is paying its Beijing gold medalists just $37,500 each, while Germany, which won the second most amount of medals at the games with 27, is paying athletes who won gold just $22,000.

According to Forbes, 11 other delegations are offering six-figure payouts for a single gold medal — Hong Kong, Turkey, Malaysia, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Kosovo, Estonia, and the Czech Republic.

Those 11 nations, however, won just seven medals between them at the games.

The prize money Italy is offering to its Beijing gold medalists, however, pales in comparison to the money Singapore offered its medal winners at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

According to CNBC, Singapore was willing to pay gold medalists $737,000, silver medalists $369,000, and bronze medalists $184,000, but unfortunately for its athletes — but fortunately for its Olympic association's bank balance — the nation did not win a single medal.