The organiser of a support fund for Samoan Olympic medallist Ele Opeloge says he hopes the government will learn from the entire episode surrounding her presentation.
Opeloge was belatedly awarded the silver medal for her weightlifting event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after the silver and bronze medallists were disqualified for drug cheating last year.
The government refused to financially reward her, saying they only did so to gold medal winners, despite the fact Samoa had never won an Olympic medal before.
The Samoa Observer newspaper organised a community fundraiser which raised over 15,000 US dollars for Opeloge and the editor Mata'afa Keni Lesa said even during the presentation this week, the government remained steadfast.
"They kind of dangled the silver medal in Ele's face and said 'you know because you didn't win gold, try and win gold and then we can ll give you some money'," Mata'afa said.
"I think that was very disappointing.
"But certainly in terms of going forward that is the message. There is nothing that can be done to Ele now and even some of the teams that have done really well in the past but I think we can learn some lessons in terms of going forward."
Mata'afa said the government has to go back and review their policies.
"It's ridiculous to expect these guys to go one step further and win gold when they can't even recognise a beautiful thing and a massive achievement - a silver medal at the Olympic level."