Op Gold & Performance-Based Bonuses

In an Olympic and Paralympic Games year, teams and individuals must place in the top-three at the Olympic and Paralympic Games to qualify for an Operation Gold Event Award; multiple Operation Gold Event Awards can be received if an athlete has multiple top-three finishes at the Olympic or Paralympic Games. World Para Swimming does not have an Operation Gold eligible event in 2026.

In non-Olympic and non-Paralympic Games years, Operation Gold Awards are limited to one award per athlete in the Term; athletes who qualify for more than one award automatically receive the higher award.

Individuals must finish in one of the top eight places, while teams must finish in one of the top-six places at the qualifying event in a discipline on the program of the Olympic or Paralympic Games to qualify for an Operation Gold Award in a non-Olympic or non-Paralympic Games year. For the purposes of Operation Gold, a team is defined as three or more athletes (pairs are awarded at the same rate as individual athletes).

The payment amounts for Operation Gold Event athlete results are as follows:

The USOPC has designated the following elite-level events as part of its expanded Enhanced Operation Gold program. U.S. Paralympics Swimming will assist in the management of the Enhanced Operation Gold program for the designated events listed below.

Performance based bonuses for these identified Enhanced Operation Gold events will be distributed by USOPC directly to qualified athletes as outlined in Attachment C.

Performance based bonuses will be provided by gender to athletes who attain results at U.S. Paralympics Swimming 2026 National Championships and who are current National Team A, B, U23 and Rising Stars team members in good standing. A ranking list will be created and swims will be ranked in order of each swim’s percent comparison (“P”) to the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National A Standard. Payments will not be awarded if the percentage is more than 15 percent of the standard. Athletes are eligible for one performance incentive at the event. The payment of funds will be processed by the first Friday of the subsequent month following the event.

P = (swim time/Standard) x 100

All comparisons will be rounded to the nearest one-tenth of a percent. A lower comparison (P=101.4%) is better than a higher comparison (P=102.7%).

There will be potential performance payouts at Para Pan Pacs in 2026 for U.S. athletes. More details to come in an announcement at the end of January 2026.