Kim Yu-na shares the top earning athlete title for the upcoming Winter Olympics with American snowboarder Shaun White:

Sharing that top honor is South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na, who is also making top dollar for her dynamic aerial skills – but on ice skates. Last year her triple-triple combination jumps helped her earn the titles of World Champion, Grand Prix Final Champion, and Four Continents Champion and brought her nearly $150,000 in prize money. They also helped the 19-year-old become a marketing darling in her home country, where she earned $7.5 million from sponsors like Hyundai Motor, Kookim Bank, Nike, Proctor & Gamble, just to name a few. Her Samsung Electronics “Yu-Na Haptic” style phone launched in May of last year broke a company record in December when unit sales broke the 1 million mark in less than seven months.

Our list of the highest-earning athletes of the Winter Olympic looks at earnings derived from prize money, endorsements, licensing income and bonuses for the 2009 calendar year and does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees. All salaried professional athletes, specifically National Hockey League players, were excluded from the list.  [Yahoo Sports]

Look who else is making some good money, the once most hated man in Korea:

Five-time Olympic medalist in short-track speed skating (and 2007 “Dancing With the Stars” champion) Apolo Anton Ohno has helped himself by negotiating his own marketing deals outside his team. For his efforts, the 27-year-old ranks No. 5 on our list having earned $1.5 million last year through endorsements with Coca-Cola, AT&T, Alaska Airlines and Proctor & Gamble. His most recent endorsement with Nestle has paired him in an advertising campaign with 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal gymnast, Shawn Johnson.

Readers may remember that Ohno also won Dancing with the Stars two years ago.

According to the article these athletes are actually not making as much money as prior Olympians because of the recent economic fall out which has caused many companies to pull sponsorships.  All in all it looks like they are still doing pretty well for themselves.