Gold medallist Beatrice Chebet of Kenya poses with her medal on the podium during the Women's 10,000m medal ceremony at the Stade de France on August 10, 2024.
Governments are set to splash billions of shillings on their athletes who won medals in the just concluded 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Beatrice Chebet of Kenya will earn Sh13 million for her two gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres from World Athletics (WA), which said it would reward all gold medallists from the track and field events in Paris with Sh6.5 million ($50,000) each.
The World Athletics will be awarding Sh312 million to the 48 gold medallists from a portion of revenue to be received from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), becoming the first global sports body to take up such an initiative in the 128 years of Olympic history.
Furthermore, this will be extended to silver and bronze medallists during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
However, this pool prize money has not been allocated for the Paralympics set for August 28 to September 8.
“A key part of our strategy has been to reward our athletes; they are the stars of the show,” World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon said in Paris last week.
“They deserve to share an increasing part of the sport’s income. If you look at our existing World Championship beyond the Olympic Games, we’re spending $24m in prize money over a full Olympic cycle.
“We felt that our highest profile event should be part of that. It’s also our intention to extend the prize money to all three medallists at the next Olympic Games in LA.”
The Kenyan government announced it would award Sh3 million to gold medallists, Sh2 million to silver medallists, and Sh1 million to bronze medal winners. This means Chebet will get another Sh6 million for her two gold medals, making it Sh19 million in total.
Faith Kipyegon, who claimed her third straight gold in the women's 1,500m and silver in the 5,000m, will get Sh11.5 million from the government and WA. Freshly minted men's 800m champion, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, will pocket Sh8.5 million in total.
Diplomatic passports
Ronald Kwemoi’s silver in the men's 5000m will earn him Sh2 million.
All five bronze medallists- Mary Moraa (800m), Faith Cherotich (3,000m steeplechase), Hellen Obiiri (marathon), Abraham Kibiwott (3,000m steeplechase), and Benson Kipruto (marathon) will be paid Sh1m each by the government, which revised the reward scheme last year to include world records, which fetch Sh5 million and a house. None of the Kenyan athletes broke the world record at the Olympic Games.
The Kenyan government announced last year that such achievers will also be facilitated with diplomatic passports and other national honours and privileges.
“Our sportsmen and women are heroes who have promoted Kenya’s iconic brand globally; we want to acknowledge their invaluable contribution by honouring and rewarding them accordingly,” said Ruto in June last year at State House, Nairobi.
Kenyan gold medallists and recorder holders will also receive undisclosed bonuses from Team Kenya's official kitting company, Nike. More money will come too from their shoe companies.
Highest payout
This means that besides an athlete earning the Nike bonus as a member of Team Kenya, they will also receive other endorsements from individual kitting.
A Team Kenya athlete endorsed by Adidas will also benefit from Nike largesse, according to confidential agreements between athletes and these companies seen by the Nation.
The United States disbursed the highest prize money of Sh410,995,440 to its 40 gold medallists 44 (silver) and 42 (bronze). Hosts France dished out Sh 385,712,550, Israel (Sh191,439,152) and Japan (Sh112,596,115).
The Hong Kong fencers Edgar Cheung Ka-long (men Foil) and Vivian Kong Man Wai (women Epee) have been rewarded Sh99.8 million each for winning gold medals by their country’s sports ministry, the highest payout for a gold medal in the Paris Olympics, according to trivia tracking website, Hola.com and CNBC TV company.
Compatriot Siobhán Bernadette Haughey, winner of bronze medals in the women’s 100 and 200 metres freestyle, will receive Sh49,470,144 for a combined total prize money of Sh247,350,720, Hola.com said. Hong Kong’s reward scheme also covers fourth place ( Sh13m), while fifth to eighth place will receive Sh6.5m, but they did not have athletes in these positions.
Israel is placed second in this list by awarding Sh35m for gold, Sh24m (silver), and Sh17m ( bronze). Serbia takes third position with Sh28m (gold), followed by Malaysia (Sh27m), Italy (Sh25m), Lithuania (Sh23m), Moldova (Sh22m), Latvia (Sh20.2m), Hungary (Sh20m) and Bulgaria (Sh18m).
Alongside their medals, victorious athletes received a stuffed toy of the Olympic mascot and a box containing the official event poster. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not award prize money for winning medals, according to its charter.
Organisers disclosed that during the Games, 1.4 million visitors experienced the Parisian festivity sites with more expected during the Paralympic Games programme from August 28 through to September 8.
