Very apt article by Bloomberg. PAP should just pay Michael Phelps S$8m to swim for Singapore. After all, we have plenty of CPF money.
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Phelps Edges Bonus Race With Eight Golds to Singapore's Silver
By Grant Clark
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- When it comes to Olympic bonuses, Michael Phelps is
the biggest fish in the pond -- only just.
Phelps collected $480,000 from USA Swimming and another $200,000 from the
U.S. Olympic Committee for his record eight gold medals in Beijing. Had
Phelps been born 9,000 miles away in Singapore, he might have pocketed S$8
million ($5.6 million) from the most bonus-friendly national sports body.
After a 48-year wait for a second Olympic medal, the Singapore Sports
Council had to make good on its payout pledge after its women's table
tennis team collected a silver. The players shared S$750,000, half what
they'd have pocketed for a team gold medal.
``The bonus means a lot to us,'' Anthony Lee, high- performance manager for
the Singapore team, said in an interview after the Aug. 17 final loss to
China.
Singapore, which has never won a gold medal, is also offering S$1 million
for an individual Olympic title -- the most at the Beijing Olympics. Two
decades after the International Olympic Committee opened the Games to
professionals in all sports, the number of sponsors and sporting groups
offering cash incentives is growing.
The IOC, which runs the Games, doesn't award prize money but has no rules
against its members paying incentives, said spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau.
``If national Olympic committees or the countries want to reward their
athletes for achieving medals, that's entirely their decision,'' Moreau
said in an interview.
`Not for the Money'
The U.S. Olympic Committee introduced bonuses at the Barcelona Games in
1992 and now hands out $25,000 for a gold. Phelps also got $1 million from
one of his sponsors, Speedo, for reaching Mark Spitz's one-Games record of
seven titles -- making him $1.68 million and eight gold medals better off
than last month.
``I'm not doing it for the money,'' said Phelps, who has an unprecedented
career 14 gold medals. ``I'm doing it because I love what I do.''
One man who stood atop the same medal podium is counting on extra cash.
Cesar Cielo Filho, who became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic swim
title, said he still didn't know whether he was receiving a bonus.
``I haven't heard anything yet,'' Cielo Filho said after winning the
50-meter freestyle on Aug. 17. ``I'll see what will happen in Brazil.
Hopefully I will get it.''
Australian gold medal winners including swimmer Stephanie Rice will receive
A$20,000 ($17,400) for the use of their image on an Australia Post stamp,
the same amount as Adidas AG is paying the nation's Olympic champions as a
bonus.
Putin Push
Russia has more than tripled medal bonuses since 1996 at Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin's urging, said team spokesman Gennadi Shvets. Champions in
Beijing will get 100,000 euros ($158,000), as well as payments from sports
funds and sponsors.
``Putin never cuts the amount,'' Shvets said.
Host China is paying more than in Athens after having its best Olympics,
though final bonus figures haven't been decided. Even at 2004 levels of
200,000 yuan ($29,000) for a gold, the team total is already more than $1.6
million.
Yanjing Beer is also forking out 1 million yuan for each Chinese champion
-- a far cry from when Xu Haifeng won his nation's first gold in the 1984
50-meter pistol event. He said he earned a 9,000 yuan bonus and a monthly
salary raise to 98 yuan from 50.5 yuan, China Daily reported.
``I felt like a millionaire,'' Xu, now the vice-director of China's Cycling
and Fencing Administrative Center, was quoted as saying.
Greece is offering 200,000 euros for a gold, as well as a job in the armed
forces as an officer, said team spokesman Tasos Papchristou. Most of the
2004 medalists took up the posting, he said, including 400-meter hurdler
Fani Chalkia, who was barred from Beijing for failing a drug test this
week.
``She might lose the job,'' Papchristou said. ``It is under
investigation.''
-- With reporting by Dan Baynes, Alexander Nicholson, Wing-Gar Cheng,
Michael Tighe, Mason Levinson and Li Yanping. Editors: Larry Siddons, Vince
Golle.
To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Clark in Beijing at
[email protected]
Last Updated: August 19, 2008 12:00 EDT
---------------------
Phelps Edges Bonus Race With Eight Golds to Singapore's Silver
By Grant Clark
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- When it comes to Olympic bonuses, Michael Phelps is
the biggest fish in the pond -- only just.
Phelps collected $480,000 from USA Swimming and another $200,000 from the
U.S. Olympic Committee for his record eight gold medals in Beijing. Had
Phelps been born 9,000 miles away in Singapore, he might have pocketed S$8
million ($5.6 million) from the most bonus-friendly national sports body.
After a 48-year wait for a second Olympic medal, the Singapore Sports
Council had to make good on its payout pledge after its women's table
tennis team collected a silver. The players shared S$750,000, half what
they'd have pocketed for a team gold medal.
``The bonus means a lot to us,'' Anthony Lee, high- performance manager for
the Singapore team, said in an interview after the Aug. 17 final loss to
China.
Singapore, which has never won a gold medal, is also offering S$1 million
for an individual Olympic title -- the most at the Beijing Olympics. Two
decades after the International Olympic Committee opened the Games to
professionals in all sports, the number of sponsors and sporting groups
offering cash incentives is growing.
The IOC, which runs the Games, doesn't award prize money but has no rules
against its members paying incentives, said spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau.
``If national Olympic committees or the countries want to reward their
athletes for achieving medals, that's entirely their decision,'' Moreau
said in an interview.
`Not for the Money'
The U.S. Olympic Committee introduced bonuses at the Barcelona Games in
1992 and now hands out $25,000 for a gold. Phelps also got $1 million from
one of his sponsors, Speedo, for reaching Mark Spitz's one-Games record of
seven titles -- making him $1.68 million and eight gold medals better off
than last month.
``I'm not doing it for the money,'' said Phelps, who has an unprecedented
career 14 gold medals. ``I'm doing it because I love what I do.''
One man who stood atop the same medal podium is counting on extra cash.
Cesar Cielo Filho, who became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic swim
title, said he still didn't know whether he was receiving a bonus.
``I haven't heard anything yet,'' Cielo Filho said after winning the
50-meter freestyle on Aug. 17. ``I'll see what will happen in Brazil.
Hopefully I will get it.''
Australian gold medal winners including swimmer Stephanie Rice will receive
A$20,000 ($17,400) for the use of their image on an Australia Post stamp,
the same amount as Adidas AG is paying the nation's Olympic champions as a
bonus.
Putin Push
Russia has more than tripled medal bonuses since 1996 at Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin's urging, said team spokesman Gennadi Shvets. Champions in
Beijing will get 100,000 euros ($158,000), as well as payments from sports
funds and sponsors.
``Putin never cuts the amount,'' Shvets said.
Host China is paying more than in Athens after having its best Olympics,
though final bonus figures haven't been decided. Even at 2004 levels of
200,000 yuan ($29,000) for a gold, the team total is already more than $1.6
million.
Yanjing Beer is also forking out 1 million yuan for each Chinese champion
-- a far cry from when Xu Haifeng won his nation's first gold in the 1984
50-meter pistol event. He said he earned a 9,000 yuan bonus and a monthly
salary raise to 98 yuan from 50.5 yuan, China Daily reported.
``I felt like a millionaire,'' Xu, now the vice-director of China's Cycling
and Fencing Administrative Center, was quoted as saying.
Greece is offering 200,000 euros for a gold, as well as a job in the armed
forces as an officer, said team spokesman Tasos Papchristou. Most of the
2004 medalists took up the posting, he said, including 400-meter hurdler
Fani Chalkia, who was barred from Beijing for failing a drug test this
week.
``She might lose the job,'' Papchristou said. ``It is under
investigation.''
-- With reporting by Dan Baynes, Alexander Nicholson, Wing-Gar Cheng,
Michael Tighe, Mason Levinson and Li Yanping. Editors: Larry Siddons, Vince
Golle.
To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Clark in Beijing at
[email protected]
Last Updated: August 19, 2008 12:00 EDT
