Russian Olympian Medal Winners Get Money ?!

[seltzerwater]

Article on Drudge says Russian Olympians will receive 100,000 and a car (!) for an Olympic Gold Medal. Silver gets 60,000 and bronze gets 40,000.

[whtouche]

Good story.

[erooMynohtnA]

I believe they also get an apartment.

[Gav]

And?

Not sure to make of this news...

[Mr.MightyMouse]

Olga Kharlan in the December interview for her local paper mentioned that she fiscally set for life - in sketchy terms she received a Downtown Nikolaev apartment - which is rented out, since she lives with her parents,
a new car (make not mentioned) with OLYA personalized license plate,
a bonus of 140,000 euros,
an annual stipend of about 40,000 euros,
and a few sponsorship deals.
She also mentioned 3 Olympix in her future.

[misha]

Article on Drudge says Russian Olympians will receive 100,000 and a car (!) for an Olympic Gold Medal. Silver gets 60,000 and bronze gets 40,000.

Well... if you really good you can always apply for Russian Citizenship and
go get a medal for Mother Russia and earn these moneys in the process.

Figure skating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuko_Kavaguti
Women basketball: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3427182
Mens basketball: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Robert_Holden

.

[AndrewH]

Yea, but you don't want to know what happens if you DON'T get a medal...

[kalivor]

That seems to be about six times what the USOC pays, and less than Thailand ...

http://theolympianblog.com/2008/07/h...ians-make.html

[Natureboy]

I believe Olympian Michael Jordan is also set for life. Succesful athletes get endorsments if thier sport is popular and the endorsement also benefits the endorser. That endorser may be a business or a government entity. Or as Gav so succinctly put it "And?"

[Cookeit]

I believe Olympian Michael Jordan is also set for life. Succesful athletes get endorsments if thier sport is popular and the endorsement also benefits the endorser. That endorser may be a business or a government entity. Or as Gav so succinctly put it "And?"

I really doubt it was being in the Olympics which got Michael Jordan rich...

[migopod]

Article on Drudge says Russian Olympians will receive 100,000 and a car (!) for an Olympic Gold Medal. Silver gets 60,000 and bronze gets 40,000.

Of course back in Soviet Russia, $100,000 and a car received gold medallists!

[Fiat Slug]

Article on Drudge says Russian Olympians will receive 100,000 and a car (!) for an Olympic Gold Medal. Silver gets 60,000 and bronze gets 40,000.

Olympic medals are a source of national pride for a lot of nations around the world. It's not surprising that some countries want to provide monetary incentives to their Olympic athletes. We know that the Olympic games are supposed to be for amateurs but there are plenty of counter-examples in tennis and basketball.

From a practical perspective, $100k is a real bargain considering that you're buying a spokesperson who is a gold medal winner. How much do you think Wheaties pays an athlete?

.

[oiuyt]

We know that the Olympic games used to be for amateurs

Fixed that for you.

Starting in the 70's the amateurism provisions were phased out. It's now up to the various international federations (FIE in our case) whether or not to allow professionals. Currently boxing is the only Olympic sport to require amateur status (although cash prizes from National Olympic Committees are allowed even in boxing based on how they define amateurism).

-B

[MdA]

In the final analysis, she is still living in the Ukraine….and anything can happen over the next few years. I don’t think it is safe to say she is “set for life” But, its working for her right now……nice interview and photos in the recent issue of Escrime 10/2009 No.67…she says that the entire women’s sabre team got cars……also a photo of President Obama with a foam sword on the White House lawn.

[Mr.MightyMouse]

I don’t think it is safe to say she is “set for life” But, its working for her right now……nice interview and photos in the recent issue of Escrime 10/2009 No.67…she says that the entire women’s sabre team got cars……also a photo of President Obama with a foam sword on the White House lawn.

I assume that you are referring to Ms. Kharlan - those were her words - i.e. assessment of her financial stability - not mine. I am not sure what my own answer would even be.
Between Olympix, Anatalya and Plovdiv, the Cadet + Juniour career, the Maxim extravaganza (she also said that she'll never pose for a Men's magazine again), Sportswoman of the Year award, and her Coaches awards, refusal to move to a bigger city - she is becoming quite a celebrity at home.
Ironically, all 4 Ukranian Ladies in various interviews have named Mariel Zagunis as their favourite fencer.
An interesting (at least to me) fact from one of the interviews was that she always wanted to be a "professional fencer", never really thought of a different career.
http://www.nffu.org.ua/ru/news/rando...-korrespondent

Personally I always look in this type of interviews for a training regimen - and it is usually the same for all top fencers (I think Golubistky was a notable exception), which personally I can not afford time wise.

[Gav]

Do you guys actually know what "amateur" means?

It means being wealthy enough to not have to accept payment. It comes from the old upper class notion that people who did work, for money, as being somewhat vulgar - and therefore of a lower class. Striving to win were seen as unseemly as part of leisure pursuits (the idea being leisure not industry). So this notion of "amateur" grew out of that.

So the idea of the amateurishness of the Olympics is somewhat out of date...