World's Highest Paid Female Olympians

Bangalore: The ultimate crowning glory for any athlete is the gold at the Olympics. Olympic is the Mount Everest of the athletic world and reaching that peak is the dream of many but achieved by few. There are a lot of perks monetary and non-monetary when an athlete wins gold at the Olympics. Your name joins the big names and you go down in history. But a more immediate benefit is the monetary gifts you get.

According to Forbes, many of the top earning female athletes are Olympians, and whether the gold in their pocket is a result from the gold hanging around their necks or other career accomplishments, these women aren't too concerned with finding work after the 2012 games!

1. Maria Sharapova

Earnings: $27.1 million

With 10 months away from the game circuit her world ranking dropped to 126, her worst ranking since she started playing in 2003 as a 16 year old. But now Maria Sharapova is back and how! She won 5 tournaments back to back in the last 15 months. But despite facing many stumbling road blocks on the way she earned a lot of money this year as well.

She earned $27.1 million in the past 12 months and thus cemented her place as the highest paid female athlete in the world for the eighth time in a row.

She earned $5.1 in prize money between July 2011 and July 2012 and 422 million from her sponsors, exhibitions and appearance fees.

Olypmics London 2012 is Sharapova’s first outing at the Olympics. She was the first woman to carry the Russian Flag in the opening ceremony. But unfortunately her first outing was a disappointment as she lost out to Serena Williams 6-0, 6-1. 

Endorsement List: Some of the companies that come in her list are Evian, Head, Samsung and Tag Heuer. But her biggest endorser is Nike.