SEA Games medalists awarded
SEA Games medalists awarded
JAKARTA (JP): A total of Rp 348 million (US$ 150,259) in cash was given yesterday to 51 Jakartan athletes and 28 coaches who won medals in the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last December.
The cash followed bonuses from the National Sports Council early this month, increasing the earnings of Jakartan athletes.
The city administration provided two-thirds of yesterday's bonus, the Jakarta provincial sports governing body provided the rest.
Individual medalists as well as members of medal winning teams were entitled to the cash. Each individual gold medalist received Rp 6 million, a silver medalist Rp 3 million, and a bronze medalist Rp 2.25 million. Coaches got the same bonus as their winning athletes.
Each member of a gold medal winning team received Rp 4.5 million. The amount was Rp 2.25 million for silver and Rp 1.5 million for bronze.
The sports council previously awarded Rp 25 million in the form of a five-year insurance policy to each individual gold medalist, and Rp 2 million and Rp 1 million in cash to each individual silver and bronze medalist.
As for coaches, KONI awarded Rp 5 million in cash only to those whose athletes won gold medals.
Almost all of SEA Games participating countries gave cash incentives to their winning athletes.
Malaysia gave an individual gold medalist 5,000 ringgit, or about $2,000. Team members also won a large cash reward. Even a country that was less likely to win medals, like Cambodia, offered much higher rewards up to $10,000 for individual gold medalists and $30,000 for a winning team.
Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday that the bonuses should be regarded as a token of appreciation from the city administration.
"We never dangle money in front of our athletes just to motivate them to win medals," Surjadi insisted. He then used the occasion to urge the athletes to do their best to help Jakarta defend its title at the 14th National Games in September.
Surjadi's reasoning on the bonuses is shared by all Indonesia's sports leaders. Their rationale is that it is fine to reward athletes with money after a competition, but it is improper to promise them money before hand. (arf)