THEY struck gold at the SEA Games and the Singapore athletes will be richer out of it too.

Under the Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP), they stand to get $10,000 for each individual gold, $15,000 for each team event gold and $30,000 for each team sport gold.

With payouts for individual golds capped at three - and $5,000 for both second and third golds - the 23-gold Singapore swimmers will emerge as the top earners from the SEA Games.

Multi-gold medallists Joseph Schooling (six individual and three relay golds) and Quah Zheng Wen (four individual and three relay golds) are the biggest earners, each netting $31,250.

Tao Li (four individual golds and one relay) will net $23,750 while Quah Ting Wen (one individual and three relay golds) will bank in $21,250.

Rounding off the top five is paddler Gao Ning, whose individual gold and two team event golds will earn him $20,500.

Schooling, who turned 20 yesterday, also earned the most from the MAP awards for the 2013 Myanmar Games, raking in $27,500 after a five-gold haul.

Sponsored by the Tote Board and Singapore Pools, the MAP provides cash payouts to medal-winning athletes at the SEA Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the Olympics.

Athletes have to plough back 20 per cent of the cash prizes to their respective national sports associations for future training and development purposes.