There is money in sports—in the Olympic Games in particular.
This was already proven in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
For winning the country’s first gold medal in Japan in nearly a century of Olympic participation by the Philippines, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz raked in millions of pesos on top of a slew of house-and-lot bonuses, condominium units and many other perks amounting to no less than P100 million.
Even silver winners in Tokyo like boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam amassed money incentives on top of house-and-lot prizes in cool Tagaytay City, together with bronze medalist Eumir Marcial.
It will not end there.
Bambol Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, is again offering a house-and-lot prize to every gold medal winner in the Paris Olympics set this July-August in the French capital.
It is but fitting anew to lavishly shower our future medalists with a plethora of bonuses as our stint in Paris marks our 100th year of Olympic participation.
Sprinter David Nepomuceno of Oas, Albay (May 9, 1900-Sept. 27, 1939) was our lone athlete for the Philippines’ Olympic debut in the 1924 Paris Summer Games.
Speaking of track and field, the World Athletics, headed by Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe, is offering $50,000 for every gold won in the event.
Coe has set aside $2.4 million to pay gold medalists across the 48 events on the track and field program in Paris.
“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is,” said Coe, who is rumored to run for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee.
Singapore’s Olympic body set a record when it awarded $1 million to its first Olympic gold medal swimmer a while back.
Already, there are 13 Filipino athletes qualified for Paris, with each one again entitled P10 million for gold, P5 million for silver and P2 million for bronze.
Forget lotto. Better run, box, vault, kick, lift or swim?