Big prizes await Olympic champions
Fat cash prizes are awaiting the mainland's Olympic champions.
Yanjing Beer Group, the parent of China's third-biggest brewery, announced yesterday that it would award 1 million yuan (HK$1.13 million) to each Chinese gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Silver medallists will get 500,000 yuan, and bronze medallists will receive 200,000 yuan.
The cash awards were announced by Yanjing chairman Li Fucheng in Beijing yesterday.
The company is the official sponsor of the Olympic aquatic events.
Similar cash bonuses are almost certain to follow as more mainland companies try to boost their corporate images by cashing in on the host nation's Olympic gold bonanza.
It had won 43 golds as of yesterday.
Apart from private cash, government prizes of all sorts will further gild every gold medal.
The State General Administration of Sport has already promised higher cash prizes for Olympic medallists than were handed out after the Athens Olympics four years ago, according to mainland media reports.
The payouts will be increased by 50,000 yuan, with gold medal winners each being awarded 250,000 yuan, silver medal winners 200,000 yuan and bronze medallists 130,000 yuan.
The money will be tax free, mainland media reported.
Perhaps to enhance competitive incentive for the traditionally weak sports events, some of the under-dogs were said to have been promised high prizes if they can work wonders.
The men's soccer team, which did not win a single game on their way to crashing out of the competition, could have won 4 million yuan if they had made it to the final or a whopping 8 million yuan if they had won gold.
China's tennis federation also promised to top up the sports administration's cash prizes with an extra 15 per cent.
There has also been speculation that the administration will copy the lifetime bonus system of South Korea, which ensures that medal-winning Olympians have monthly incomes for the rest of their lives.
The provincial and municipal governments of the athletes' hometowns are also expected to give them big cash awards, although details are yet to be announced.
In 2004, Shanghai, Fujian and Shaanxi each awarded gold medallists 500,000 yuan; Guangdong province gave out 250,000 yuan and Jiangsu province handed out 200,000 yuan.
Awards can also come in other forms. Guo Jingjing, the gold medal winner in the women's synchronised and single three-metre springboard diving competitions at the Athens Games, received a luxury villa in the suburbs of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, her hometown.
The Fok Ying Tung Foundation, formed by late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung, has awarded each Chinese gold medallist US$80,000 and 1kg of gold since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
This year's gold medallists are also likely to sign a host of lucrative sponsorship deals.
