How much do figure skating choreographers make

No winter Olympic sport draws more attention than figure skating. The amount of athletism and rhythm -- not to mention the mastery of a slippery surface --  is always pretty dang impressive! Every four years without fail, millions of people worldwide tune in for the figure skating category of the Winter Olympics.

RELATED: 10 Former Olympians The World Loved: Then And Now

With such impressive moves, it shouldn't come as a surprise that figure skaters often make a pretty good amount of money. Especially those who compete in the Olympics or World Figure Skating Championships, as their name will go down in figure skating history! Here's a list of the highest-paid figure skaters of all time, based on their current net worths.

THERICHEST VIDEO OF THE DAY

10 Dorothy Hamill - $5 million

Dorothy Hamill began taking ice-skating lessons at the tender age of eight, and it took her all the way to the 1976 Winter Olympics, where she won a gold medal representing the United States. She also won gold for the 1976 World Figure Skating Championships.

Dorothy is considered the inventor of the ice-skating move "the Hamill camel." After her competition days ended, she went on to headline for the Ice Capades and perform in Broadway on Ice. She has also dabbled in reality television, appearing on Dancing with the Stars and Chopped.

9 Mao Asada - $5 million

Mao Asada started to take ballet lessons while she was a little girl in Japan, but eventually switched over to ice-skating. Needless to say, this decision paid off! She received a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics, where she also became the first-ever female to land three triple Axel jumps in a single competition.

In addition, she won gold in the 2008, 2010, and 2010 World Figure Skating Championships, and holds 15 Grand Prix series titles. Mao has since announced her retirement from the sport, and certainly has plenty of money to do so comfortably!

8 Michelle Kwan - $8 million

Michelle Kwan has won the most awards in figure skating history. She won a whopping five World Figure Skating Championships, as well as nine U.S. Figure Skating Championships. As for the Olympics, she won silver in the 1998 games and bronze in the 2002 games. With her creative and expressive technique and her endearing personality, Michelle quickly became the "face" of figure skating.

She's made film and television appearances alongside tons of endorsements. In fact, she was one of the highest-paid athletes endorsement-wise for a few years! She's also committed to public service. Having studied international relations and earned multiple degrees, she now works with various advocacy and outreach groups and is very politically active.

7 Nancy Kerrigan - $8 million

Even those who don't pay attention to sports know Nancy Kerrigan's name -- unfortunately, this is due to the infamous attack where her competitor, Tonya Harding, hired someone to injure her knee before the 1994 Winter Olympics. Those who have actually seen Nancy perform, however, know she's much more than a victim.

RELATED: 10 Richest Boxers Of All Time

She won gold in the 1992 Winter Olympics, the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, and the 1989 Winter Universiade. Once her competitive career ended, she joined various skating troupes as well as competed on Dancing with the Stars. She also founded the Nancy Kerrigan Foundation to raise awareness of vision impairments, as her own mother is blind.

6 Johnny Weir - $10 million

Johnny Weir has successfully made the leap from sports to pop culture! The two-time Olympian started a buzz after earning bronze in the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships, as well as bronze for both the Tokyo and Goyang Grand Prix Finals. Most notably, he's a three-time U.S. national champion.

After announcing his retirement from competing, Johnny toured with a few skating troupes and began to make appearances on multiple reality television shows. He now does sports commentary alongside Tara Lipinski and dabbles in fashion design. He even designs costumes for some of the most prestigious skaters out there!

5 Kristi Yamaguchi - $18 million

Kristi Yamaguchi had club feet as a little girl, so she was put into ballet and ice-skating classes as a form of physical therapy. Who could've predicted that these classes would result in her scoring gold at the 1988 World Junior Championships, gold at both the 1991 and 1992 World Figure Skating Championships, and gold at the 1992 Olympic Games?!

Even after she retired from figure skating, she just couldn't seem to stop winning. She ended up being the champion of the sixth season of Dancing with the Stars! She continues to make appearances in movies and TV shows and has written four books -- not including her two children's books!

4 Brian Boitano - $18 million

Brian Boitano was a huge name on the figure-skating scene in the 1980s. He won gold in both the 1986 and 1988 World Figure Skating Championships and went on to win gold in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Though he no longer competes, he's still a fixture in pop culture. In fact, the cartoon South Park has Brian as a character!

Brian also got his own television show on the Food Network, What Would Brian Boitano Make?, and his own show on HGTV called The Brian Boitano Project. He also starred in the 1990 German dance film Carmen on Ice, for which he and his costars won an Emmy.

3 Evgeni Plushenko - $21 million

Evgeni Plushenko has seen a lot of gold medals in his career. He's earned gold twice in the Olympics, three times in the World Championships, an astounding seven times in the European Figure Skating Championships, four times in the Grand Prix Figure Skating Finals, and a whopping ten times in the Russian Figure Skating Championships. And that's just the most notable of his awards!

RELATED: Top 10 Medal-Winning Countries at the Olympic Winter Games

After his skating career, Evgeni dabbled in politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, but eventually decided to opt-out of politics. Now, he is a coach for other figure skaters.

2  Scott Hamilton - $30 million

Scott Hamilton has also seen a lot of gold! He won four U.S. Figure Skating Championships in a row and four World Championships in a row. Eventually, he was awarded a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics. At that point, the men's U.S. figure skating team hadn't won a gold medal in 24 years.

Scott was the one to break the pattern!  Scott later created the figure-skating show Stars on Ice, which he co-founded, co-produced and performed in for 15 years. He did sports commentary for a while as well as wrote two books. He's made various television appearances -- even doing some voice work for cartoons -- and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics International.

1 Kim Yuna - $35.5 million

Kim Yuna has taken the figure-skating world by storm. Kim is definitely one of the most highly decorated figure skaters in the world. We can't even list out all her awards, but we can tell you this: she is the first female skater ever to win every International Skating Union (ISU) competition, including The Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships, and the Grand Prix Finals.

Yep, she's competed and scored gold in pretty much every prestigious figure skating competition out there! As for finances, she was the highest-paid athlete for the 2010 Winter Olympics as well as one of the richest female athletes from 2010 to 2014, according to Forbes. That said, Kim had donated over $2.67 million of her winnings to charity as of 2015. No wonder the media calls her "Queen Yuna!"

NEXT: The 10 Highest-Paid Olympians in the World

Share Share Tweet Email Comment

How much do figure skating choreographers make

Next The 10 Highest Grossing Diane Lane Movies, Ranked

Related Topics

  • The Rich & Powerful

About The Author

How much do figure skating choreographers make

Melissa Binns (25 Articles Published)

Melissa Binns is a freelance writer and marketing consultant. She has a degree in Communications with a concentration in Journalism. While her passion is writing, she also enjoys living vicariously through rich people, being embarrassing on social media, and dogs.

Do figure skaters make their own choreography?

For most skaters, a coach will function as choreographer, though this often changes as a skater rises through the ranks. Many coaches act as choreographers, especially earlier in their careers. But there are a few choreographers, who often have a background in dance and music, that specialize in the discipline.

How much do top figure skating coaches make?

$41,940.
$63,646 /yr. Coach..
$89,286 /yr. Senior Coach..
$95,597 /yr. Adjunct Coach..

How much do professional figure skaters get paid?

Figure Skating Salary.

How much money do Disney On Ice skaters make?

While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $131,000 and as low as $15,500, the majority of salaries within the Disney On Ice jobs category currently range between $26,500 (25th percentile) to $54,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $83,500 annually across the United States.