The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and two of its key sponsorship partners, Supreme Ventures Limited and Mayberry Investments, have come together to provide an ‘Olympic Rewards Programme’ for athletes and coaches.

An investment package worth $41 million will be distributed to the country’s athletes who won medals, and those coaches whose athletes won individual medals at the recently held 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“For the Jamaica Olympic Association this partnership represents critical aspects of our vision for the future of the business of sport and emphasises our conviction that the lives of athletes and coaches matter beyond the present,” said JOA President Chris Samuda.

In announcing their contribution, the Supreme Ventures Foundation announced that they “will be rewarding the athletes that medalled at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Tokyo to the tune of $30 million”.

“We are incredibly proud of all athletes who have ever represented Jamaica on the world stage, and we are grateful to have this opportunity to reward this year’s cohort of medallists,” said Peter McConnell, chairman, Supreme Ventures Foundation.

The package will be supplemented by additional contributions of $6 million from Mayberry Investments and $5 million from the JOA, the apex body for local sports.

“Mayberry wishes to congratulate all the athletes that represented us at the Olympics and all of the people who worked so hard to make this national effort yet another success,” said Christopher Berry, executive chairman, Mayberry Investments Limited.

In the breakdown, a gold medal gets a $6-million reward; a silver medal winner will benefit with a $4-million reward; and a bronze medal winner will be rewarded with $2 million.

A similar cash amount maintains for relay placing. However, there is a major difference in that the amount will be divided equally among the participants.

So $6 million will be shared among members of Jamaica’s first-placed 4×100 metres women’s team that won the gold medal; while for the women’s 4×400 metres relay team that placed third, $2 million will be shared among the members of the squad.

Coaches will also be rewarded for their work, with $1 million for an athlete who won a gold medal, $750,000 for an athlete placing second to win a silver medal and $500,000 for a third-placed bronze medal finish by their athlete.

This coaching reward is only applicable to individual medallists, and not relays.

As part of the wider package, which seeks to safeguard funding for the athletes until their retirement phase, the $41 million in rewards will go towards funding investment accounts at Mayberry Investments for each medallist, and coach whose athlete earned an individual medal.

The funds will be under management at Mayberry Investments for a period of three years, or until the athlete’s retirement from track and field, whichever is earlier.

At the end of the period, the athlete can decide whether they would like to cash in their investments or maintain their accounts.