By Hideki Mochizuki, Swimming World Japanese correspondent
TOKYO, Japan, April 9. GMO CLICK Securities, Inc., an online stock trading company and one of the major sponsors for the Japanese Swimming Federation, announced today that it will provide Japanese gold medal swimmers in London with $366,000 (30 million yen) for the accomplishment.
Meanwhile, GMO Click will provide silver medalists with $36,100 and $12,000 for bronze medal swimmers. For a relay, the money will be divided by the four relay members.
The Japanese Olympic Committee will separately offer $36,000 for the Japanese gold medalist, $24,000 for silver and $12,000 for bronze.
Should Kosuke Kitajima secure an unprecedented back-to-back-to-back in the men's 100 and 200 breaststroke events, he will be up for a nearly $1 million payday just from these incentives.