The Australian government has chosen to award the same financial assistance to the country's medal-winning athletes at the Tokyo Paralympics as their regular Olympic counterparts. While speaking to the National Parliament on Thursday, September 2, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that his government will pay Paralympic medalists the same amount as Olympic medalists. Earlier, a number of Australian Paralympians complained that they were not given any bonuses after winning medals, although their Olympic counterparts were given AUD20,000 or less for each medal they won at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

"Mr. Speaker, we have won 60 medals so far, and recognising the national significance of the Paralympic team, I'm very pleased to announce that the Government will provide additional support to Paralympics Australia to ensure our Paralympic medallists will receive equivalent payments to our Olympic medallists. The Minister for Sport, at my request, spoke to Paralympics Australia CEO Lynne Anderson earlier today, and I'm delighted we've been able to support our fantastic Paralympians in this way, Mr. Speaker," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Parliament on Thursday. 

"Our Government will ensure Australia’s Paralympic athletes receive payments for winning medals at the Tokyo Games in line with the payments to our Tokyo Olympic medallists. The decision ensures Paralympics Australia can recognise our champion Paralympic athletes in line with payments made by the Australian Olympic Committee to medal-winning athletes in Tokyo," Australian Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck said in a statement.  

Australia at Paralympics and Olympics

Australia has 62 medals so far at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, including 15 gold medals, 23 silver, and 24 bronze medals. Australia won gold medals in table tennis for the first time in 37 years, courtesy of Li Na Lei and Qian Yang, who won in the singles category class 9 and 10 respectively. Madison de Rozario, James Turner, Paige Greco, Emily Petricola, Rowan Crothers, Lakeisha Patterson, Darren Hicks, Amanda Reid are some of the other athletes to win gold for Australia at the Paralympic Games. 

On the other hand, Australia won 46 medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, including 17 gold medals, 7 silver, and 22 bronze medals. Australia ranked sixth on the medals tally, below the United States, China, Japan, United Kingdom, and Russia. 

Image: ParalympicsAustralia/Website