2011 marked a milestone for several Vietnamese athletes who their pocketed biggest-ever rewards for their successes at major tournaments, such as the Southeast Asian Games, Asian, and world championships.

Female bodybuilder Nguyen Thi My Linh stands atop the chart this year, taking home the biggest sum of VND400 million (US$19,500) in reward money from the government and sponsors despite missing last month’s SEA Games.

Linh was awarded VND110 million from the central government for winning a gold medal at the women’s 52kg event at the World and Asian Bodybuilding & Physique Sports Championships held in Bangkok from September 28th – October 8th.

Her sterling record of achievements in 2011 won the 40-year-old woman a similar sum from authorities of Ho Chi Minh City, her home city, and landed her a place in the city’s much coveted talent training program that will award her VND180 million ($8,600) a year for two years.

Linh is planning to buy her own house after living with her family in a rented house in Ho Chi Minh City for over a decade.

2011 was also an auspicious year for high jumper Duong Thi Viet Anh, who received a total of VND170 million ($8,100) in cash prizes for her gold medal at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia.

Apart from the VND45 million ($2,100) in reward money she received from the government for a gold medal in the regional tournament, Anh also got VND15 million from the Vietnam Athletics Federation, and VND110 million from sponsors and authorities from her home town in Bac Lieu Province.

“I never believed I could have made such a big sum in my life,” the 21-year athlete confessed honestly.

She will use the entire sum to help her parents, who grow vegetables, build a brick house. Viet Anh said the coming lunar Tet festival will be the second year in a row that she will be away from home for training.

Viet Anh and her teammates will represent Vietnam at the 2012 Asian Athletics Championships, set to start in China in two months.

Other successful athletes include runner Truong Thanh Hang, who pocketed VND115 million ($5,500) for her two gold medals in the women’s 800m and 1,500m events at the 2011 SEA Games.

With 9 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze medals at the SEA Games, athletes on the Vietnamese national athletics team took home over a billion dong in cash prizes from the government.

Gymnast Phan Thi Ha Thanh, owner of three gold medals and a bronze, got VND155 million ($7,400).

Swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc was given over VND200 million ($9,500) for winning two gold medals and a bronze in Indonesia.

However, a disparity has appeared in the comparison between the monthly salary of footballers and their bonuses, which are considered very high by athletes of other sports in Vietnam.

On average, a qualified footballer earns VND50 million (US$2,400) to VND100 million a month, which is approximately a half or a third of the one time-only bonus a star athlete of another sport receives.

It should be noted that the Vietnamese national U-23 football team, with around 30 people, had been promised a record cash bonus of US$1 million for the championship title at the SEA Games. This comes out to $33,300 for each player, 1.5 times more than the biggest reward bodybuilder My Linh received.

As for many V-League clubs, such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Hanoi ACB, and Hanoi T&T, players have been promised VND1 billion (US$47,600) in bonuses for any win in one of the 26 rounds they play in a season. With 35 footballers on a team, each would get $1,400 for a win from each of their weekly games.

Tuoitre