Kazakhstan Offers Athletes Up to $100,000 for Medals
September 9, 2000 - 0:0
ALMATY Impoverished Kazakhstan said on Friday it would reward athletes returning from Sydney with medals with up to $100,000.
It is hoped the offer will give Kazakh athletes an extra incentive to repeat the success of the 1996 Atlanta Games where the country won 11 medals, including three golds, officials said.
"Our aim is to put up a performance which will match that of four years ago," Amancha Akpayev, Kazakh Olympic Committee president said.
"But the task will not be easy as many countries have made significant progress in these events." A gold medal will earn $100,000, a silver $50,000 and a bronze $25,000.
Kazakhstan will send 131 athletes to participate in 22 events.
Atlanta Greco-Roman wrestling champions Yury Melnichenko and Mkhitar Manukyan and boxer Yermakhan Ibraimov are considered the Central Asian state's best prospects.
Funding for sports has declined considerably in Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but remnants of the Soviet-era sports machine still remain.
(Reuter)
It is hoped the offer will give Kazakh athletes an extra incentive to repeat the success of the 1996 Atlanta Games where the country won 11 medals, including three golds, officials said.
"Our aim is to put up a performance which will match that of four years ago," Amancha Akpayev, Kazakh Olympic Committee president said.
"But the task will not be easy as many countries have made significant progress in these events." A gold medal will earn $100,000, a silver $50,000 and a bronze $25,000.
Kazakhstan will send 131 athletes to participate in 22 events.
Atlanta Greco-Roman wrestling champions Yury Melnichenko and Mkhitar Manukyan and boxer Yermakhan Ibraimov are considered the Central Asian state's best prospects.
Funding for sports has declined considerably in Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but remnants of the Soviet-era sports machine still remain.
(Reuter)