MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider will each be awarded 2.5 million rubles (over $24,000) for winning the silver medal in women’s doubles at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Tuesday.
The Russian tennis duo, competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris under a neutral status, was defeated in the championship match at the 2024 Summer Games by the pair from Italy - Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (6:2; 1:6; 7:10).
"Russian President Vladimir Putin presented awards yesterday to the winners of the [2024 Summer] Paralympics Games, stating that each of them would be given a bonus of three million rubles [over $28,820]. Degtyarev, who also serves as the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said.
"Our silver medalists from the [2024] Olympics in Paris, namely our [female] tennis players, will be awarded a sum of 2.5 million rubles. This decision has already been approved," Degtyarev continued. "The coaching staff [of the Russian tennis players] will receive the same sum, 2.5 million rubles, because we must recognize all our sporting heroes."
Shnaider is 20 years old, and is currently ranked 13th in the WTA Rankings. Shnaider has four WTA titles to her name, winning all of them during the current season. Earlier in the year, she made it to Round 3 of the prestigious Wimbledon tournament.
Andreeva, 17, is currently ranked 16th in the WTA Rankings. She has won one WTA title so far in her budding tennis career. Earlier this year she reached the semifinals of the 2024 French Open. Last year, in Grand Slams she reached the 3rd round of the French Open, made it all the way to the 4th round at Wimbledon and then battled her way into Round 2 of the US Open. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games were hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 26 and August 11. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed a team of 15 Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics as neutrals.
Of the 15 Russian athletes who agreed to go to Paris and participate in the Olympics under a neutral status, Andreeva and Shnaider were the only ones to medal at the Games.
At the 2024 Olympics, a number of Russians competed, all as neutrals. They included tennis players Daniil Medvedev, Pavel Kotov, Roman Safiullin, Yekaterina Alexandrova, Mirra Andreeva, Diana Shnaider, Yelena Vesnina; canoeists Zakhar Petrov, Alexey Korovashkov, Olesya Romasenko; swimmer Yevgeny Somov; cyclists Tamara Dronova, Alyona Ivanchenko, Gleb Syritsa; and Anzhela Bladtseva, who competed in the trampoline event.
Team USA won the most medals at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games with 126 (40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze). China was second with with 91 medals (40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze) and Japan was third with 45 medals (20 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze).
IOC’s regulations against Russia
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board convened for a meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 19-20 and following the opening day it decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the Parade of Athletes and also exclude them from the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics overall medal standings.
The IOC, however, ruled that Russian athletes, cleared to participate in the 2024 Olympics, would not have to sign anything denouncing their country’s special military operation in Ukraine.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.