Photo Courtesy: Mike Comer/ProSwimVisuals.com
SINGAPORE – Earning four medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games was just the start of the rewards Joseph Schooling would get for a successful summer in the pool.
The University of Texas freshman is getting a large monetary reward from the Singapore Olympic Committee as part of the country’s effort to motivate its athletes to achieve high goals in international competition. According to an article by Asia One, Schooling received S$370,000 this week from the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme.
The fund was created in the 1990s as “an incentive scheme to reward medal-winning athletes,” according to the SNOC’s website, and gives money to athletes who win medals at either the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games or South East Asia Games. It’s a hefty payday for four medals at non-Olympic events, given that it equates to about US$295,000. The U.S. Olympic Committee, for example, awards $25,000 for only one gold medal at the Olympic Games. In Singapore, an athlete could get S$1 million (US$799,000) for an Olympic gold medal.
Schooling is now a freshman at the University of Texas, and NCAA rules appear to allow him to accept the money. The NCAA bylaws do not expressly mention money paid to athletes by non-USA Olympic committees, but does specify that funds paid to athletes by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Operation Gold program – very similar in scope to the Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme – are allowed. If the money were being paid to Schooling by the Singapore swimming federation, it would not be allowed.
The Singapore National Olympic Council held a ceremony Tuesday evening to celebrate the 53 medalists from the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, and award the S$3 million in prize money. Schooling was unable to attend the ceremony, with the University of Texas athletic department confirming to Swimming World that the 19-year-old was in Austin attending classes and training with the men’s team. His parents attended the ceremony in his place.
According to the Asia One article, Schooling won’t get to keep all the money. Besides taxes, all athletes must pay 20 percent to their sport federations for Commonwealth Games medals and 50 percent for Asian Games medals. That will leave Schooling with nearly S$150,000.