The Kenyan government said on Monday that it would give cash rewards for the gold medalists in the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games next month.
President Mwai Kibaki said gold medalists will earn 750,000 shillings (about 11,000 U.S. dollars) while silver and bronze medalists will get 500,000 shillings (7,500 dollars) and 250,000 shillings (3,700 dollars) respectively.
When he handed over the national flag to the Olympic team, Kibaki also announced a long-term program to revamp the sports industry to provide lucrative career opportunities to the athletes in the country.
He revealed that plans to establish an International Sports Academy as a flagship project under the Vision 2030 were underway in order to prepare athletes to cope with the ever-increasing demand for excellence and offer specialized training for the local athletes.
Other measures unveiled to promote sports include establishment of a National Sports Lottery to generate funds to drive various sports programs in all parts of the country an initiative the President directed the concerned ministry to give top priority.
Commending the team members for their individual painstaking effort to earn a slot in the hotly contested national qualifying events, President Kibaki urged the team to remain focused during the entire competition period in order to translate their hard and rigorous training into a harvest of medals.
"The Olympic Games have evolved into one of the most highly recognized sports event globally. As you travel to Beijing to compete in the games, I urge you to bear in mind that you are participating at the very top of sports achievement," Kibaki noted according to a press release from his office.
The government has also directed the ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to ensure that the recently allocated 210 million shillings (3.1 million dollars) for constituency sports development was efficiently utilized to tap and nurture more talent.
"The purpose of investing in such projects is to enable the government provide a suitable environment for our young and talented sportsmen and women to train in order to sharpen their skills so as to become internationally competitive," Kibaki said.