Mexican athletes who competed at the Pan American Games and their coaches will receive a combined 222 million pesos (US $11.3 million) in direct funding, President López Obrador announced.

López Obrador said that each athlete and coach that attended the regional sporting event in Lima, Peru, will receive a monthly grant of 20,000 pesos (US $1,020) over the next year to allow them to continue training.

In addition, athletes who won medals in the Peruvian capital will receive a one-off lump sum payment of 40,000 pesos for gold, 35,000 pesos for silver and 25,000 pesos for bronze, the president said.

López Obrador said that the proceeds of the sale of the mansion owned by accused drug trafficker Zhenli Ye Gon, which was purchased Sunday by a youth sports foundation for 102 million pesos, will be used for the athletes’ grants.  

Another 20 million pesos will come from the sale of other seized assets and a 500-million-peso government sporting fund will provide a further 100 million, he explained.

Mexico finished third on the medal tally at the 2019 Pan American Games, winning a total of 136 medals, including 37 gold.

It was Mexico’s best performance at the event in terms of the number of medals won.

A total of 541 Mexican athletes competed in the games, which concluded in Lima on Sunday.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp)