Hauls of gold: Chinese top Olympians get US$50,000
26/8/2008 17:32
They're not literally worth their weight in gold, but China's top
Olympians will each get a bonus of 350,000 yuan (US$50,000), almost double the
amount paid after the 2004 Athens Games, local media reported.
The prize for
gold medalists at the 2004 Games was 200,000 yuan each, the Guangdong-based
Guangzhou Daily reported, citing Xiao Shan, deputy head of the General
Administration of Sports.
That's but a fraction of what it cost to win each
medal. Liu Peng, the country's sports chief, said on Sunday that average
government investment in each gold medal was about 15.7 million yuan a
year.
He said the calculation was based on 51 golds that Chinese competitors
secured during the 2008 Games, vs. the annual government investment of 800
million yuan on sports.
The investment in each medal at every level, a total
of 100 during the Beijing Games, would be about 8 million yuan, using Liu's
calculations.
Liu also said the sports sector would get another 800 million
yuan each year from sports-oriented lotteries, although 60 percent of that would
go for facilities for the general public, especially farmers.
He said China's
post-Olympics government spending on sports would be unchanged despite the
unprecedented gold medal haul.
It's common for Olympian medal-winners to get
a bonus. After the 2004 Games, each US medalist got US$25,000. Russia, which
also made a strong showing, paid US$250,000.
Kenya offered cash, a TV and a
washing machine, according to media reports.
Xinhua
|
