Gold medalists to get Rp 1b awards
Gold medalists to get Rp 1b awards
JAKARTA (JP): Companies are catching Olympic fever, pledging
money to sponsor the Indonesian contingent at the quadrennial
event.
With seven weeks to the Olympics, the National Sports Council
(KONI) managed to entice PT Bintang Toedjoe, the producer of the
isotonic drink Extra Joss, to sign a memorandum of understanding
to provide Rp 1 billion (US$111,100) cash bonuses for gold
medalists.
"Extra Joss aims to provide a Rp 1 billion cash bonus for
every gold medal because I haven't seen any local companies
interested in sponsoring sports. All are multinational
companies," said Simon Jonatan, the assistant marketing director
of PT Bintang Toedjoe, at a media conference following KONI's
sports-business gathering on Monday.
Should no Indonesian athlete win a gold medal, half of the
bonus amount will be given to silver and bronze medalists while
the other half will go toward sports development in the country.
KONI has received Rp 4.2 billion from the government, Rp 2
billion from Gelora Senayan, Rp 1.6 billion from McDonald's
Indonesia and US$100,000 from PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia to
support the country's Olympic team.
At the 1996 Olympics, KONI and Tugu Pratama insurance provided
a bonus of Rp 1 billion in life insurance to gold medalists Ricky
Subagja and Rexy Mainaky.
The head of KONI's sports-business and industry commission,
Fritz E. Simanjuntak, said the purpose of Monday's gathering was
to encourage businesspeople to pay more attention to sports
development in the country.
During the gathering, KONI also launched its official website,
www://koni.org.id, which is maintained by Plasmedia.
KONI also unveiled its public service advertisement aimed at
encouraging people to support the national contingent at the
Olympics in Sydney in September. The advertisement will be
broadcast on RCTI, which holds the local broadcast rights for the
Olympics.
Also attending the event was Susy Susanti and Alan Budikusuma,
who both won gold medals at the 1992 Olympics. Susy received a
certificate from the International Olympics Committee honoring
her achievements in the cause of women's and sports development.
(yan)