The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Laumatiamanu Ringo Purcell has assured athletes who won gold medals at the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands will receive their reward money.

He said with the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer they will be able to work together in finding solutions for this matter. 

The reward for athletes who win gold medals at the Pacific Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games is funded through the Samoa Gambling Authority. 

With the establishment of the new Ministry of Sports, it has been moved under the Ministry. 

"At the moment, we have relayed our guidelines. We are not saying this as a cover up. The truth is that the reward for all our athletes who won gold medals is funded by the Gambling Authority. But now, we have a Ministry, so we are now looking at ways where these monetary rewards can be gifted to our medalists," he said during a press conference.

"As we all know, our athletes from the last South Pacific Games have not yet received their reward. We have just appointed our Chief Executive Officer, he just came on board. At the moment we are working together to find ways to get these rewards to our athletes, as they deserve it."

"For your information, the qualifying competitions do not count for these rewards, it is only for the Pacific Games, Commonwealth and the Olympics. These are the only tournaments eligible for this reward according to our guidelines. But the qualifying tournaments are not counted. So yes, we are not trying to hide from our responsibilities but rest assured the Ministry is working on it."

Samoa won 34 gold medals, 21 silver medals, and 21 bronze medals at the Pacific Games held in November last year.

It's almost a year and the athletes are yet to receive their rewards as promised.

Some athletes who won gold medals told the Samoa Observer that they would be grateful if the Government was still considering the rewards.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said they represented Samoa because they love the nation and will continue doing so.

Some said if the rewards are given then it would be a bonus for them as most spend a lot of time and money preparing for the sports they compete in.