Chinese Olympic diving champion bags big prize money

Tian Liang, who won the men's 10m synchronized platform title at the Athens Olympic Games on Saturday, has guaranteed a total of 700,000 yuan (about 85,000 U.S.dollars) of prize money back home, it was learned Monday.

The State Sports Administration of China, the country's sports governing body, has already announced that every Olympic gold medal winner can get 200,000 yuan.

In addition, the sports administrations of China's 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, will give their local Olympic champions extra prize money.

Tian will be awarded 500,000 yuan from his hometown province of west China's Shaanxi. Half of the money is from the Sports Administration of Shaanxi and the other from the Shaanxi

provincial government, said Yang Minghua, director of the Sports Administration of Shaanxi.

Tian's coach will also get same amount of the money from the local government and sports governing body.

"All the prize money will be tax free," Li said.

The Olympic champions usually get much more than what the public know since many entrepreneurs are very generous to give them big prize money.

For example, Guo Jingjing, Tian's girl friend who won the women's 3m synchronized springboard gold on Saturday, was awarded a villa worth of one million yuan (12,000 U.S. dollars) by an unknown businessman from her home province Hebei.