The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, brought much success for Team SA. A harvest of 37 medals (13 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze) was enough to put South Africa sixth overall on the medals table.
Team South Africa's victorious games athletes were honoured at a champions parade in Pretoria on Monday. The parade concluded with Sports Minister Tokozile Xasa handing over cash rewards to the medal-winning athletes and their coaches for their stellar displays.
The medal rewards were calculated as follows:
Gold🏅 – R50,000 for the athlete and R12,500 for athlete's coach
Silver 🏅– R25,000 for the athlete and R7,500 for athlete's coach
Bronze 🏅– R15,000 for the athlete and R5,000 for athlete's coach
Chad le Clos was the big winner, as he walked away with R177,142.87 [R190,000 less tax, we presume] for his return of three gold medals, a silver and a bronze.
Here is a look at the total amount of money rewarded to the athletes and coaches based on the rewards figure for each category:
Gold: Total – R812,500
13 Medals: Players received R650,000 in total while coaches, (one coach per medal), received R162,500
Silver: Total – R357,500
11 Medals: Players received R275,000 in total while coaches received R82 ,000
Bronze: Total – R260,000
13 Medals: Players received R195,000 in total while coaches received R65,000
In total, the department paid out R1.43-million.