Olympic medalists receive cash bonuses from government

(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

Indonesian weightlifters Triyatno and Eko Yuli Irawan, the only athletes successfully carrying home medals from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, received on Thursday cash bonuses from the Youth and Sports Ministry for their outstanding performances.

Triyatno, who brought home a silver medal, was presented with Rp 400 million (US$42,280), while Eko received Rp 200 million for the bronze medal he managed to win.

The coaches of these two weightlifters also received Rp 75 million each.

“The total Rp 1 billion for bonuses, which was allocated by the government, is still in our keeping as no athlete got a gold medal in the Games,” Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com after handing out the bonuses.

Out of all the various competitions Indonesia has participated in, Indonesia has only experienced setbacks in the 2012 Olympic Games, Andi said.

During the Olympics, Indonesia only managed to win two medals: silver and bronze, both in weightlifting. This result can be recorded as Indonesia’s worst showing at an Olympics since 1992, as between then and this year, the country had succeeded in winning at least one gold medal at each of the Games.

Badminton, the country’s mainstay sport for achieving gold, failed to secure any medal, even though Indonesia had competitors in every category of the sport.

The minister acknowledged that the setback in this year’s Olympics was the country’s reliance on only one sport -- badminton, even though Indonesia sent athletes to compete in six different sports.

“From now on, we must not focus on only one sport; we have to maximize all [the sporting talent] that we have,” Andi said.

On Tuesday, Triyatno and Eko also received cash bonuses from state railway company, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). Triyatno was given Rp 500 million, while Eko received Rp 250 million.(fzm/iwa)