MOSCOW (AP) — Russian sports authorities will more than double bonus payments for medal winners at the 2010 Winter Olympics in a bid for a record-beating performance.
Deputy Sports Minister Gennady Alyoshin said Tuesday that gold medal winners will receive €100,000 ($135,000). Winners of silver and bronze medals will earn €60,000 and €40,000 euros.
"Such incentives are not matched by any other country," said Vladimir Vasin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Officials have high hopes that a strong performance in Vancouver could be a springboard for 2014, when Russia's southern city of Sochi hosts the Winter Olympics.
Russia is aiming for around 40 medals, with a minimum of nine golds, at next year's games. That would be almost double the country's 22-medal haul in Turin, Italy, in 2006.
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