Aussies compete for the love of the Games, while some nations rake in thousands for gold

AUSTRALIA’S Commonwealth Games medal winners will not take home any prizemoney for their success, unlike the nation’s Olympians.

A spokesman for Commonwealth Games Australia confirmed there is no medal incentive scheme for the athletes who come out on top.

Australian Olympians take home $20,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for bronze. The CGA prefers to spend its resources on investing in sports.

“Instead, (CGA) funds – not government funds – provide significant investment into its member sports and individuals through those sports, as an investment targeting best performance,” the spokesman said.

The organisation has invested $56m into its performance-based program since 1996. And in the past four years, $11m has gone to member sports preparing for Birmingham, plus an additional $2m boost for competing athletes in the past 18 months.

By contrast, other Commonwealth nations reward individual athletes richly for their success at the Games.

Singaporean athletes are eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in rewards for winning medals, though they are required to invest 50 per cent of their winnings back into their chosen sport.

India’s gold medallists will take home the equivalent of $36,000, along with the equivalent of $18,000 for silver medallists and $13,500 for bronze medallists.

After their successes at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Samoa’s gold medal winning athletes earned up to $20,000 for their triumph.

Scotland’s gold medal winners can take home more than $17,000, with silver medallists in line for $8600 and bronze medallists $3400.

In South Africa, gold medallists earn $4800, with $2100 for silver, $1300 for bronze and an extra cash bonus for the medallists’ coaches.

Like Australia, Jamaica, Canada and England only financially reward their Olympic medallists.