Compiled by MARY HANNIGAN

Gabby shines: US gymnast loving the weather conditions in London

Gymnast Gabby Douglas was the star of the American front pages yesterday after her Olympic gold, the 16-year-old probably even out-Phelpsing Michael in terms of the coverage she received. The New York Post’s tribute was probably the pick of the bunch, as was the quote they had from her on the subject of the weather conditions in London: “On the bus when it was raining, I knew this is going to be a great day. My mom told me when I was little when it rains, it’s God’s way of saying a big day is going to happen.’’ We need to start regarding our rain in a similarly positive light.

PS: Fast work by Kellogg’s, Douglas is already on their Cornflakes box.

Golden: incentive

According to this list published on the BBC website yesterday, Singapore athletes have the biggest financial incentive to strike gold, $800,000 (€648,245) their reward, while British medallists have to make do with their face on a stamp – Singapore: $800,000. Kazakhstan: $250,000. Kyrgyzstan: $200,000. Uzbekistan: $150,000. Russia: $135,000. Tajikistan: $63,000. US: $25,000. Australia: $20,000 plus face on a stamp. UK: No money, but their face on a stamp. Singapore has never won gold at the Olympics, picking up just three medals over the years – silver in weightlifting in 1960, silver in table tennis in 2008 and bronze in table tennis this week. The $800,000 is safe – so far.

The price of success: Americans liable for tax on their winnings and value of medalsThere's been a bit of a kerfuffle in America in the last few days over claims that their Olympic medallists will have unpleasant tax bills of up to $9,000 waiting for them when they return home. The US Olympic Committee awards prize money to its medal winners and it is regarded as taxable income by the US Internal Revenue Service, with the added possibility that the value of the actual medals themselves could also be subject to tax.

Hence the headline in one Florida paper yesterday: “Fool’s Gold?” According to the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform “a gold-medal winner would owe $8,986, while a silver-medal winner would owe $5,385 and a bronze winner would owe $3,502”, prompting Republican Senator Marco Rubio to introduce a bill earlier this week that would make Olympic athletes exempt from tax.

Those figures, though, are disputed by PolitiFact, the fact-checking group, who gave a “mostly false” rating to ATR’s claims. “Americans for Tax Reform is correct that gold medallists’ winnings are taxable . . . still, it’s not likely that anyone would pay that much per medal in taxes . . . any accountant worth their salt should be able to get the rate of tax on medal winnings much below $9,000, and maybe even to zero.”

So, winning gold might not prove as expensive as first feared. The sigh of relief you hear is from Michael Phelps. Can you imagine his tax bill over the years if his accountant wasn’t worth his or her salt?

Disqualified

“Now and again rubbish things happen and this is just one of those.”

– British cyclist Victoria Pendleton with a serene response to her and her partner Jess Varnish being disqualified from Thursday’s team sprint for an illegal changeover.