This news just came down the wire, and I felt like sharing it with the world, not just Athabasca.
The Canadian Olympic Committee just announced that they'll start paying Canada's Olympic atheletes for the medals they win.
A Canadian athelete will score $20,000 for winning the gold, $15,000 for taking the silver, and $10,000 for the bronze. The COC says they're doing this to compensate high performance atheletes for the financial burdens they face while in training.
It should be noted that Olympic atheletes getting a cash bonus for bringing home medals is actually quite common...the USA has been doing it since 1984 (they get $25,000 for a gold medal), and many other nations around the world have been doing it (and I can't find a list right now). Many have been lobbying for the Canadian Olympic Committee to do it for quite some time now.
But the question is, will this equal more medals? We'll find out soon enough. The COC will start paying the cash bonuses at the Beijing Olympics next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment