Medal-less but record-breaking Olympians to get cash reward

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Olympians who didn’t bring home a Tokyo Olympic medal but broke a national record stand to receive cash incentives from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez said the incentive is good as approved but its exact amount has yet to be determined. 

TRACKER: Team Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics

It will be discussed when their board chaired by William Ramirez convenes Tuesday.

There were reports the incentive could be worth P500,000.

“The amount will be decided by the board tomorrow,” said Fernandez.

Eligible for the reward are lifter Elreen Ando, who broke the country’s mark in the 64-kilogram division, and swimmer Luke Gebbie, who clocked 49.64 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle to erase the country’s mark of 49.94 he himself set in the 2019 FINA World Championships.

For Ando, she eclipsed her Southeast Asian Games effort of 94kg in the snatch, 119 in clean and jerk and 213kg total as well as the 98-115-213 in this year’s Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan with a 100-122-222 in Tokyo.

Pole-vaulter EJ Obiena also has a chance to claim the incentive if he breaks the country’s record of 5.87m that he set when he sees action in the finals of his event today.

The PSC also gave Tokyo Olympics weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz an extra P5 million several days back for setting new Olympic records in the clean and jerk and total.