Gotta love that Olympian spirit, where the pursuit of sporting glory, rather than monetary reward, acts as a driving motivation for athletes. Financial rewards and sponsorship bonuses are now a ubiquitous part of Olympic participation. As an incentive to its athletes, a group of prominent Russian businessmen has again pledged a reward fund, totalling more than GBP7m, in bonuses to Russian medal winners at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sport Business magazine reports.
The Olympic Fund, backed by 10 of Russia's richest men, including
Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, will award the bonuses to
the country's gold, silver and bronze medallists. "We paid out more
than 110 million roubles to the medallists of the 2006 Winter Games in
Turin," said Alexander Katushev, Fund Chairman. "Now the total sum will
be around 340 million roubles. We haven't decided yet on the exact
amount for each sport."
The fund bonuses are on top of the Russian Olympic Committee's already
announced payments of GBP25,000, GBP15,000 and GBP10,000, respectively,
for each Russian gold, silver and bronze medal.
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