Sh1 million! Government rewards triumphant Deaflympics team
Athletics
By
Ochieng Oyugi
| Jul 13, 2022
The government yesterday rewarded Team Kenya for the splendid performance in the 24th edition of the Summer Deaflympics in Brazil in May.
Each gold medallist winner was rewarded with Sh1 million, silver with Sh750,000 and bronze Sh500,000.
Kenya had a total of 24 medals of which five were gold, seven were silver and 12 were bronze.
"The money will hit the athletes accounts by Thursday morning," said Sports PS Joe Okudo who presided over the award ceremony.
The country ended the global games in 11th place, out of 78 nations that took part in the championships.
Kenya was ranked top in Africa as Algeria, that finished 29th overall, scooped second place in the continent.
This performance surpassed that of last edition held in Turkey in 2017 (16 medals including 5 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze).
The performance was also the best ever since the country first took part in the championships in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1997.
About 22 of the Kenyan medals were reaped from athletics, on the track.
From the remaining two, one came from the field (javelin) and the other from golf.
"The weather was bad in Brazil but we are glad we did our best to bring the medals home," Team Kenya captain Beryl Wamira said.
Team Kenya co-captain Lucas Wandia reiterated that the squad couldn't have posted good results in Brazil without support of the government that took care of the team, both at home and away.