Team Kenya athletes get boost ahead of Commonwealth Games as gov't revamps reward scheme

The government has unveiled a significantly enhanced reward scheme for Team Kenya athletes competing at the 2026 Commonwealth Games with gold medallists set to receive Sh2.5 million per gold medal.

This marks a massive five-fold increase from the Ksh500, 000 awarded at the 2022 Birmingham Games.

Principal Secretary for Sports Elijah Mwangi announced the incentive during the official flag off ceremony for Team Kenya ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, set to be staged in Glasgow Scotland, from July 23 to August 2, 2026.

‘’So, any gold medal will receive Sh2.5 million and that is the figure that SRC has already approved. You know that this is government money and we work with government agencies which have approved Ksh2.5 million for a gold medallist. For silver, the team that participated in the last edition were paid receive Sh300, 000 but through the effort of his Excellency the president William Ruto, this has been reviewed to receive KSh1.5 million,’’Mwangi said.

Under the new rewarding structure, silver medallists will earn Ksh1.5 million while bronze medallists will receive Ksh1 million.

A total of 94 Kenyan athletes drawn from 12 sporting disciplines will represent the country with athletics contributing the largest contingent of 52 competitors.

The team will be captained by 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego who won Kenya’s only Commonwealth title in the discipline at the 2014 Glasgow Games.

Yego has welcomed the newly introduced performance reward scheme, describing it as a positive step for Kenyan athletes, although he says more clarity is needed on competition allowances.

‘’The reward scheme is very good and maybe the only thing that we still have to see into is the allowances scheme because we don’t know the exact rate, as it varies for every competition. But I welcome the reward scheme for these Commonwealth Games; it's really good,’’said Yego.

Africa Judo’s bronze medalist Zeddy Cherotich will serve as the assistant captain.

‘’I’m really excited because that was the first medal I got since I joined Judo and going forward I am ready for the competition targeting another medal,’’ Said Zeddy.