Athletes and teams that won medals for Malta at the small nations' hames earlier this year have been given cash rewards.

Malta placed first in the medals ranking during the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), with 38 gold medals, 30 silver ones and 29 bronze for a total of 97 medals.  It was the country’s best-ever performance at the games and the first time it topped the medals ranking.

Gold medal athletes who won medals individually were given €10,000 each, while teams of athletes who won gold medals together split that award among themselves.

Silver and bronze medallists also received undisclosed cash prizes. 

Sources told Times of Malta that silver medallists received €3,000, with €1,000 prizes for bronze medal winners.

In total, €575,300 was disbursed. 

The rewards were promised to athletes in the run-up to the games and made during Friday’s MOC Gala Sport Awards, an annual award ceremony intended to celebrate local athletes.

They were announced in a ministerial statement released on Saturday which emphasised the "more than half a million euro" disbursed to medallists on the night.

Sports Minister Clifton Grima said athletes’ performance at this year’s GSSE would inspire others to come. He thanked them for their efforts and pledged that they would find his backing to further develop Malta’s sporting sector. “This shows that when we work together, we can achieve great results,” the minister told attendees.

Malta Olympic Committee chairperson Julian Pace Bonello said the committee was rewarding athletes who had made Malta proud and that it was fitting that the rewards came during a night intended to bring sporting communities together.

Correction December 2, 2023: A previous version stated that medallists received €10,000 each. That sum was for gold medallists.