Olympic athletes are promised big monetary prizes before the Winter Olympic Games in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Novye Izvestia daily reported. For instance, Kazakhstan is prepared to pay 250,000 dollars for a gold medal.

Last November Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution on monetary prizes to Russian athletes on results of competitions at the Sochi Olympics. According to the document, a gold winner will receive four million rubles (about €90,000), a silver medalist - 2.5 million rubles (around €52,000) and a bronze medalist - 1.7 million rubles (around €35,000). The sum of prizes has not changed since the Summer Olympics in London in 2012.

Big monetary prizes from federal authorities are just the tip of the iceberg. Russian Olympic medalists will also receive substantial bonuses from Russian constituent entities that they represent. For instance, in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan the local government will pay the same sum to an athlete, who will win a gold medal in Sochi, and Russian government will pay four million rubles to a gold winner.

Athletes from Khanty-Mansi autonomous area and the city of St. Petersburg will be most lucky. Regional authorities promised seven and five million rubles to them for a gold and silver medal, respectively, that is higher sum than federal prizes. Meanwhile, Moscow Region, which delegated 34 athletes to Sochi, will pay “only” one million rubles (€20,700) to gold winners.

In general, the Olympics are the only major competitions in the world, organizers of which do not pay any prizes to winners. Therefore, state authorities of each country set a scheme of bonuses to their athletes on their own.

More moderate prizes are awarded in Western countries. Olympic medalists in France will receive €50,000, those in Germany - €25,000 each. Foreign sport stars have their personal advertising contracts, which also envisage monetary prizes for Olympic medals.