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SPORTCHECK: RM2m for Olympic gold

OFFER: Company prepared to match Government's incentive

AN OLYMPIC gold medal could be worth RM2 million to a Malaysian athlete if an unidentified private company's offer of matching the National Sports Council's (NSC) RM1 million incentive comes to fruition.

Deputy Sports Minister Senator Gan Ping Sieu said the company approached the Sports Ministry seeking a way to contribute to Malaysia's Olympic gold medal dream and may stump up RM1 million of its own money as reward for a gold medal.

"We are always looking for sponsors to provide incentives to motivate our athletes and one such company has offered RM1 million to a Malaysian Olympic gold medalist.

"It is a very big company but we are still working out the details of how and who should get the reward, whether just the first gold medalists, all gold medalists or all medalists," said Gan, who added that an announcement will be made soon, after launching the NSC-100Plus "Jejak Ke London" television series chronicling the national athletes' route to the Olympics in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

An Olympic gold medalist is assured of RM1 million under the government's incentive programme, a monthly RM5,000 pension and various other benefits from the respective national sport association and well-wishers.
Malaysia has yet to win a gold medal since the country's first participation at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, tallying two silver and two bronze medals since 1992, all through badminton.

However, the country's medal prospect has been significantly boosted after impressive performances in recent times by national divers, cyclists and archers although badminton, chiefly through men's World No 1 Lee Chong Wei, remains the best hope of a gold medal.

In appreciation of the effort by national athletes in carrying Malaysia's Olympic dream in London, a 13-episode, half-hour series featuring athletes from seven sports will air weekly beginning Saturday until July 21 on Astro Arena.

The sports are archery, badminton, cycling, diving and shooting while two sports that did not make it to London -- football and hockey -- will also feature.

"This series is intended to give our athletes a motivational boost while also giving the public an insight and understanding of the sacrifices and effort put in by the athletes in attempting to realise our Olympic dream," said Gan, who revealed that it cost RM4 million to produce the series.

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