Which South-East Asian countries actually pay their professional athletes?

How is it that many athletes, particularly Olympic athletes, retain amateur status despite being payed?

• For example countries like China and Russia pay their athletes for bringing home medals, and a very good amount. I know that many countries pay for their Olympians training and Russia pays their wrestlers a large amount for bringing home medals at the Olympics and world championships. Recently the U.S.A wrestling claimed they will give $250,00 reward for bringing home a gold medal (Henry Cejudo did receive money) and bringing home a gold at the world championships earns you $50,000. Michael Phelps got a huge amount of endorsements and advertising offers and yet Lebron James could not play in college because there were payments made to his mother. I know Olympic football(soccer) allows professionals to compete as well as basketball but those have been made exceptions for. Why can't professional boxers enter Olympic boxing tournaments because they are professionals? Are there any rules that dictate what are amateur and professional? Some athletes get paid ridiculous amounts for winning golds in amateur sports and yet boxers who are professional cannot? Why is this? Or are the Olympics considered professional?

• Answer:

  Prior to 1952, all olympic athletes had to meet the same criteria of amateur status. Then the Soviet Union and its 14 Communist allies entered the games. All their athletes were fully supported by their governments. None ever held a job. They trained 8 hours a day, 365 days a year. They won most of the gold, silver and bronze during the 1970s and 1980s. None of these athletes were amateur, and yet they were allowed to compete in the Olympics.because the communist athletes were not definable, they were not "pros" like Michael Jordan. It was mostly about semantics. So in 1986, the IOC changed its rule book to level the playing field.