Vietnam will award cash prices of US$2,500-5,000 to its athletes who win medals at the Beijing Olympic Games, according to local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Wednesday.

A gold medalist will receive 80 million Vietnamese dong (VND) (US$5,000), silver medalist 50 million VND (US$3,100), and bronze medalist 40 million VND (US$2,500). Besides, those who break Olympic records will get 120 million VND (US$7,500).

"The goal of Vietnam's sports delegation to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is to integrate into the Olympic movement, while striving to gain best results to confirm our sports status in the world's biggest sports arena," Nguyen Danh Thai, president of the Vietnam Olympic Committee, told Xinhua recently.

Twenty-two athletes will attend the planet's biggest sporting event in nine sports including athletics, swimming, gymnastics, shooting, taekwondo, weightlifting, table tennis and badminton.

Vietnam participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1980, and grabbed its first ever Olympic medal in 2000 with the merit of woman taekwondo athlete Tran Hieu Ngan in the 57-kg category.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)