- Fernando Duarte
- BBC International Department
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Edilynn Diaz was the first Olympic champion in the history of the Philippines, and she was awarded more than $600,000.
Fighting for a medal at the Olympics is itself a huge incentive for athletes… the glory, sense of accomplishment and reputation are beyond words.
But, do you know how many countries will provide additional rewards to their athletes? Some will give money, some will give a house, and some will even give a cow.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not pay players appearance fees, nor will they give prizes to players who win medals, but a considerable number of countries will try to stimulate athletes’ desire to win through various rewards.
Here, let’s take a look at some of the medal winners in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In addition to gold, silver and bronze medals, what else will they get.
Two new houses
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Philippine weightlifter Edilynn Diaz won the gold medal for the country and therefore also got two new houses.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz (Hidilyn Diaz) won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the country’s history in the July 26 competition, which made the country excited.
She won gold in the women’s 55kg competition and became a national hero.
Diaz’s performance in the arena also changed her life outside the arena.
In addition to winning more than $600,000 in cash prizes (including the Philippine Sports Commission and even President Duterte’s own bonuses), she also won two new houses-one of which is a wealthy Chinese Filipino Luxury apartment presented by Wu Congman.
For a current Philippine Air Force corporal and an athlete with a monthly income of $500, this is not bad!
It is unbelievable that she, who won the championship, did not even have a gym while preparing for the Olympics, so she could only make do with other people using weightlifting equipment in turn. Prior to this, she and her teammates were stranded in Malaysia for 18 months due to the new crown epidemic.
Big difference in bonus amount
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Malaysia is one of the countries with relatively generous Olympic medal prizes. At this Olympics, they have only won one bronze medal in badminton.
There are huge differences in the amount of bonuses in different countries.
In the countries that are crazy about “sweeping gold” at the Olympics, athletes have to rely on huge investments in preparation and training facilities, so these countries are usually not as generous as other countries in terms of bonuses. For other countries (with fewer medals), the glory of the Olympics is a more heroic thing.
Malaysia has won 11 medals in the 13 Olympic Games. It is still very rare for them to win the gold medal. They promised to reward the country’s athletes who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at US$241,000 (silver prize is US$150,000. The bronze medal is 24,000).
As of August 2, Malaysia has won only one medal in Tokyo: the bronze medal in the men’s doubles event of badminton.
On the other hand, as of July 29, Australia, which has won more than 500 medals in the history of Olympic competition, gave each athlete standing on the podium less than one-tenth of Malaysia’s-Australia in Tokyo Over 30 medals have been won.
Shiny new car
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Russian athletes who win Olympic medals will receive new cars presented by the government.
Among the big countries, China and Russia are exceptions. Their Olympic medalists will not only receive huge prizes, but also various awards from the state and local authorities.
In Russia, these rewards include shiny new cars, as well as homes.
The cow is also a prize
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In the past, some athletes were rewarded with a cow for winning medals in the Olympics.
However, other rewards are a little bit curious.
South African rowers Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and James Thompson won the men’s light at the 2012 London Olympics. The weight class four-man rowing event won the championship, and everyone got a cow.
Their prize came from Jan Scannell, a businessman and TV show chef who specializes in barbecues.
New job, salary increase, and exemption from military service
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Mirabai Chanu of India won the silver medal in weightlifting, so she was promoted.
In many countries, an Olympic medal can bring you a new job, or a higher salary.
Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal in Tokyo and received a reward of about 350,000 U.S. dollars, but more surprisingly, she also received a public commitment from her current employer, the Indian Railways. She will be promoted.
In South Korea, medal winners will get bonuses, but for some men’s medal winners, the biggest reward may be the exemption of the original 18 months of mandatory military service.
Two golfers in the country have the opportunity to receive this benefit, Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim-unfortunately, neither of them finally made it to the podium.
There are more material rewards
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British player Bethany Schriever is the Olympic champion, but he needs crowdfunding to come to Tokyo.
The awarding of awards to Olympic medalists is not new, but can be traced back to the 1980s, but the scale of awards has increased a lot compared to the time.
You can ask Singapore’s swimmer Joseph Schooling: In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he upset the American swimming legend Michael Phelps in the men’s 100-meter butterfly event. Phoebus) won the gold medal, and he received a handsome bonus of US$750,000 from the Singapore government.
However, for many people, these bonuses are actually livelihoods. Because many of them participate in sports events that don’t get too much attention from the media, it is difficult to get sponsorship outside of the Olympic cycle.
For example, Brazil’s Olympic athletes rely heavily on government funding. Among them was gymnast Rebeca Andrade (Rebeca Andrade), who shocked the world by winning two medals in the women’s event of the Tokyo Olympics.
In February of this year, the research organization Global Athlete visited more than 500 elite Olympians from 48 countries to learn about their finances. Nearly 60% of them said that they “do not consider themselves financially sound.”
Athletes from several countries, including major sports nations like the United States, rely on crowdfunding projects to fund their participation in the Tokyo Olympics.
British BMX cyclist Bethany Shriever (bethany Shriever, above) must use crowdfunding to realize the dream of participating in the Olympics, because in 2017, the governing body, the UK Sport Authority (UK Sport), abolished women’s Support for cyclists.
The new crown epidemic has also made things more complicated, because some games with appearance fees and funds have been postponed or cancelled.
Fortunately, many of the above-mentioned medal winners no longer need to worry about this kind of thing after they have been rewarded. Diaz said at a press conference after the gold medal: “Despite the epidemic, we came here and brought the medal home.”
“Nothing is impossible,” she said.