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SYDNEY - Australia's Olympic athletes are in for a New Year bonus after the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) announced a 33 per cent increase in medal incentives.
Athletes who won a gold medal at a world championship or equivalent event in 2007 will receive a A$20,000 ($23,700) bonus in January to help them prepare for the Beijing Olympics.
Silver medallists will get $13,400 and bronze medallists $6700. Their coaches will receive a quarter of that amount.
"The athletes need and thoroughly deserve our financial help. It is critical we increase our funding," AOC President John Coates said in announcing the increases.
"We want our athletes to properly prepare for Beijing without having to worry about paying their bills and in some cases putting food on the table for their families."
More than 200 Australian athletes and officials will benefit from the scheme. The full amount will be payable to every member in a team, meaning the 12 members of the world champion Opals women's basketball squad will receive a total of $240,000.
The increase is in response to recent benchmark figures showing that Australia have slipped from fourth place on the medal table at the Athens Olympics to a notional seventh, based on world championship results this year.
The AOC's stated aim is for Australia to finish in the top five in Beijing.
The AOC's analysis of international performances this year showed Australia's notional medal tally had dropped to 42, compared with 49 won in Athens and 58 in Sydney.
On these figures Australia has slipped behind Germany (58), France (45) and Great Britain (43) in the three years since the Athens Games.
"Our arch rival Great Britain has made dramatic advances at our expense," Coates said, singling out rowing, cycling, track and field and sailing.
He linked the improvement to huge funding increases for British sport flowing from a national lottery as the country builds up to hosting the 2012 Olympics in London.
"Great Britain's improvement comes as no surprise," Coates said, noting that gold medallists in Britain receive A3;25,000 ($68,800) under a similar scheme.
- AAP
