Thursday 11 August 2016

It Appears Some Games Are Going On,

and a few people are receiving medals,


never mind the medals what do the participants receive in hard cash? well sometimes private businessmen will match values given by their countries Olympic Committee, such as in Armenia where a man donated $700,000 to be added to the cash given by the Olympic Committee for medals, another similar thing occurred for Belarus athletes during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, those Belarusians who won any medal in the Olympics that year not only got a cash prize ($100,000 for gold, $50,000 for silver, and $30,000 for bronze), but also were given free meat and sausage for life from a local major meat company, Belatmeat, great way to advertise your product by the way, while exact figures are hard to come by, as many Olympic Committees don't make the numbers publicly known, some other countries whose athletes are known to receive cash prizes for Olympic medals include:

Ukraine: $100,000 (gold) / $75,000 (silver) / $50,000 (bronze)
Canada: $20,000 (gold) / $15,000 (silver) / $10,000 (bronze)
Kyrgyzstan: $200,000 (gold)
Uzbekistan: $150,000 (gold)
Tajikistan: $63,000 (gold)
Italy: $182,000 (gold)
France: $65,200 (gold)
Russia: $135,000 (gold)
China: $31,400 (gold)
Germany: $19,500 (gold)
Ghana: $20,000 (gold)
Philippines: $237,000 (gold)
Australia: $20,000 (gold)
Thailand: $314,000 (gold)

interestingly, while Thailand offers that large prize of $314,000 for gold medals, unlike most countries that award it in one lump sum, they award it over a 20 year period in order that the athletes will be able to have a stable income to help support themselves long term

for those British athletes competing in the 2012 London Games, they received exactly nothing from the Olympic Committee, except the medal and getting their face on a stamp, 

 and a gold painted post box near where they live,

this one dedicated to David Weir, as Great Britain's Olympic Committee does not give cash prizes, one has to ask will those winning for the UK this year receive any hard cash, if not why not? as every other country seems to reward their representatives so handsomely, what must be particularly galling for athletes that receive nothing, is the International Olympic Committee itself, a non-profit organisation run by a "volunteer" president who gets an annual "allowance" of US$251,000 and lives rent-free in a five-star hotel and spa in Switzerland, he and other cronies receive more than many medal winners for just watching in 5 star luxury.


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