Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysia, which has never won an Olympic gold medal, is offering a bonus of one million ringgit (307,000 dollars) to any athlete who can bring home the top prize from this year's Beijing Games.
Deputy prime minister Najib Razak said the offer, substantially higher than the 160,000 ringgit offered at previous Olympics, reflected rising standards in world sports.
"To win a gold medal is not easy because the competition is getting tougher. We can see that from one Olympics to another, the standard is increasing," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency late Tuesday.
"We should therefore set a higher target, and provide a more attractive incentive," he said.
Najib said silver medallists would win 300,000 ringgit, and 100,000 ringgit for bronze. Members of gold medal-winning teams would receive at least 150,000 ringgit.
Incentives for Paralympic athletes have also been lifted to 300,000 ringgit for a gold medal, 200,000 for silver and 100,000 for bronze.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia's website said the nation has five Olympic medallists in its sporting history, all in badminton, but so far none have won gold.
All five silver and bronze medals were claimed in the 1992 and 1996 Games and Malaysia has not won an Olympic medial since then, it said.
AFP
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