Some Olympic athletes from Africa like Nigeria’s Ese Brume at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Olympians typically receive well-deserved rewards from their countries, sometimes monetary, to win a place on the podium.
For example, a gold winner for Team Nigeria would clinch $15,000 for their efforts while their counterpart in South Africa would receive $37,000 — more than double the amount and this is a concern for Olympic athletes from Africa.
Beyond that, athletes rely on other revenue streams for their sporting endeavours, including scrounging for cash from sponsors, grants and landing lucrative endorsement deals.
Nigeria clinched its first-ever silver medal in Tokyo this week, making Blessing Oborodudu the country’s first wrestler to win an Olympic medal in the women’s 68kg freestyle
In the same week, other Olympic athletes from Africa like Nigerian athlete, Ese Brume recorded a 6.97 metres jump in the final of the women’s long jump to win (Bronze) her first Olympic medal and Nigeria’s first medal at the Tokyo games.
While the International Olympic Committee does not pay prize money to medalists, Mr Ebohdjaiye said the reward was an upward review from the initial amount announced due to the athletes’ dedication. He added that the gesture was intended to drive home the point that the Nigerian government would always reward superlative performance.
“Gold medallist will now be rewarded with $15,000, while silver and bronze medal winners will each get $10,000 and $7,500, respectively.
“The earlier award is $5,000 for gold, $3,000 for silver, and $2,000 for bronze,” he said.
Compared to athletes of other nations, Olympic athletes from South Africa offer the largest cash prize for its gold medal winner at about $37,000 for Gold, $19,000 for Silver and $7,000 for Bronze. South Africa has picked up three Olympic medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver), including the first women’s medals since 2000 and their first female Olympic champion since 1996.
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Currently, Kenya has two Olympic medals (1 Silver, 1 Bronze) and reportedly pays one million Kenyan shillings ($10,000) for gold medalists, $7,500 for silver, and $5000 for bronze.
This article was first published on Business Insider.
