Winning an Olympic medal could be life changing depending on where you come from

Sport is so fickle, and not just on the field of play.

In the early days of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, before the athletics programme started, many Kenyans openly criticized our performance in the team sports as one after the other, Kenya Shujaa, Kenya Lionesses (sevens rugby), Malkia Strikers (volleyball) and women’s beach volleyball tumbled out in the preliminary stages.

Kenyans' agitation heightened as our athletes also meekly fell in swimming, taekwondo and boxing.

A reader, sounding deeply concerned sent me a message lamenting that this would be Kenya’s worst performance at the Olympics, never mind that in the history of the Games, the entire haul of medals by the country has come from only two sports: athletics and boxing.

Never mind also that the last boxing medals we won at the Olympics was in Seoul 1988, with Robert Wangila (welterweight, gold) and Chris Sande (middleweight, bronze).

The fear became palpable when Kenya failed to win a medal in the men’s 10,000m and surprisingly, in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase that is considered our forte.

In the end, Kenya won four gold, four silver and two bronze (4,4,2) medals to finish 19th on the medals table and best ranked nation in Africa.

This was in fact Kenya’s best performance at the Olympics after Beijing 2008 (6,4,6), Rio 2016 (6,6,1) and Seoul 2088 (5,2,2).

A relieved nation went into celebration and was understandably offended by the muted reception their Olympic heroes got on returning to Kenya.

Images of a seemingly forlorn Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathon runner of all time and back-to-back Olympic gold medallist, at a freezing JKIA minutes after midnight, were not comforting at all. 

To think that our neighbours Uganda had accorded a truly heroes’ welcome to their best ever Olympics team that won two gold, one silver and one bronze medals must have ruffled the superiority airs exhibited by Kenyans towards their western kin.

Uganda's three medallist, Joshua Cheptegei (men's 5,000m gold, 10,000m silver), Peruth Chemutai (women’s 3,000m steeplechase gold), and Jacob Kiplimo (men’s 10,000m bronze) were handed vehicles by  none other than President Yoweri Museveni

Museveni pledged a government paid monthly salary of $1,400 (about Sh153,090) for gold, $850 (Sh92,947) for silver and $285 (Sh31,165) for bronze winners.

Namibia’s reception for their teen athlete Christine Mboma was spellbinding. Mboma, Namibia’s first woman Olympian medallist (she won 200m silver) was given a water cannon salute, songs, dance and a carnival street parade upon arrival in Windhoek.

The 18-year old and her fellow Olympiads were driven in the streets of Windhoek in a convoy of hundreds of cars and bikes as residents, waving the country’s flag, cheered wildly by the roadside.

I am yet to establish if she got any monetary rewards from her country.

In Kenya, gold medallists since 2016 are guaranteed Sh1 million, silver medallists Sh750,000 and bronze medallists Sh500,000 in a government-funded reward scheme.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced these payments to the Kenyan Tokyo 2020 medallists when they visited him at State House, Mombasa on Monday. The president also announced Sh200,000 token each for the athletes and officials who toured Japan.

These cash incentives however pale in comparison to South Africa’s which offer a cash prize of $37,000 (Sh4.04 million) for gold, $19,000 (Sh2.08 million) for silver and $7,000 (Sh765,590) for bronze, the highest pay package in Africa.

Nigeria recently increased their reward scheme three fold to $15,000 (Sh1.6 million) for gold, while silver and bronze medal winners get $10,000 (Sh1.09 million) and $7,500 (Sh820,275) respectively.

Not that it will cost them much. Africa’s most populous nation could only manage two medals in Tokyo, silver by Blessing Oborududu in women’s freestyle wrestling and bronze by Ese Brume in women’s long jump.

Singapore offers the largest cash incentive in the world. Gold medal winners are entitled to a juicy $737,000 (Sh80.6 million), silver medallists $369,000 (Sh40.3 million) and bronze $184,000 (Sh20.1 million).

No Singaporean won a medal at Tokyo though. In fact, you will have to go back four years, well, five years, to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games to find the first and only payment ever made by Singapore for a gold medallist.

In that year, swimmer Joseph Schooling won Singapore's first-ever Olympic gold medal to pocket the hefty reward.

But it was not the biggest handed out. Taiwanese woman weightlifter Hsu Shu-ching, who competed under the banner of Chinese-Taipei in Rio, won gold in the 53kg category.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education and the island’s Olympic Committee rewarded her with a whopping $952,000 (Sh104.1 million). However, by my calculations, Filipino weightlifter Hudilyne Diaz is now the best rewarded Olympian in history.

She clinched Philippines first ever gold at the Tokyo Games to send her country into delirious rapture and concomitant rewarding spree.

In addition to receiving a cash reward of $600,000 (Sh65.6 million) from the Philippine Sports Commission for winning gold, one of the country’s top businessmen has reportedly matched that incentive.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte pledged to reward Diaz with $60,000 (Sh6.56 million) from his own pocket with many Filipino companies reportedly giving her thousands more in cash.

She also received free lifetime flights on AirAsia Philippines, a house, courtesy of President Duterte—plus at least three more homes promised by companies and benefactors.

There is more. An oil company, Phoenix Petroleum, is giving her fuel for life. Did I mention Diaz, the daughter of a boda bada rider, got a promotion and pay rise in the Philippine Armed Forces where she works? What windfall. When I grow up I want to be a Philippine gold medallist!

Spare a thought though for Olympians from Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. These countries do not offer any cash rewards for winning an Olympic medal.

It would be remiss of me though not to mention that the IOC does not offer any prize money at the Games either.

And remember what Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games said: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.”