This is an increase compared to the 160,000 ringgit (US$49,231) offered in previous Olympics.

Although the amount might be big, it befitted the standard of the prestigious sporting event, the deputy prime minister said after chairing the cabinet committee on sports development's meeting here.

"To win a gold medal is not easy because the competition is getting tougher. We can see that from one Olympics to another, the standard is increasing.

"We should therefore set a higher target, and provide a more attractive incentive," Malaysian national news agency Bernama quoted Najib as saying.

Neighboring countries had also set a high amount of incentive to their Olympic gold medallists, Najib said.

In Singapore, the incentive was US$1 million, he said.

The 1 million ringgit (US$307,692) reward was apt as the Olympics was a globally-celebrated event and held only once in four years, he said.

The meeting also agreed to give 300,000 ringgit (US$92,308) in incentive to silver medallists and 100,000 ringgit (US$30, 769) to those who won the bronze, Najib said.

For teams which won the gold medal, Najib said, players would receive a minimum of 150,000 ringgit (US$46,154) each.

The monthly pension for Olympic medal winners would also be increased -- from 3,000 ringgit (US$923) to 5,000 ringgit (US$1,538) for the gold medallist, 1,500 ringgit (US$462 ) to 3,000 ringgit (US$923) for the silver and 1, 000 ringgit (US$308) to 2,000 ringgit (US$615) for the bronze, Najib said.

All rates are effective next month.