Athletes and coaches get an Olympic bonus

The government will give bonuses worth a total of 3.3 billion won ($3.07 million) to Korean athletes and coaches who participated in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Sports Ministry said Monday.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism announced that it will award 3.3 billion won to 254 athletes and coaches - 186 for the Olympics and 68 for the Paralympics - for their performance at the PyeongChang Winter Games.

A gold medalist will receive 63 million won, a silver medalist will get 30 million won and a bronze medalist will be given 25 million won. For medalists in team sports, 47.25 million won will be presented to gold medal winners, 26.25 million won to each member of silver-winning teams and 18.75 million won to those of bronze-winning teams.

Head coaches will receive 80 million won for gold, while 60 million won will be given to assistant coaches. Players who failed to make a podium finish at the Games will receive 3 million won each.

Medalists at the Olympics and the Paralympics will receive the same amount of money, respective to the medal they bagged.

The ministry said 2.5 billion won will be given to the Korean Olympic delegation, while the Paralympic delegation will get 800 million won.

Forty Korean athletes won medals at the Feb. 9-25 PyeongChang Olympics. Short-track speed skater Choi Min-jeong earned two golds, while from the men’s short-track team, Lim Hyo-jun bagged Korea’s first gold medal at PyeongChang in the 1,500-meter race.

The women’s curling team, also known as Team Kim, made Korean history bringing home the silver medal after their match with Sweden last month. The team faced Sweden again at the Ford Women’s Curling Championship 2018 in Canada on Monday local time, but lost 7-9.

In total, Korea won five gold, eight silver and four bronze medals to finish seventh at the Olympics.

YONHAP, LAURA SONG [song.hankyul@joongang.co.kr]