Canadian Olympic medallists to get bonuses
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 3:17 PM ET
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Olympic Committee will continue to pay the country's athletes bonus money for winning medals at the 2010 Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.
The committee introduced the practice prior to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Prize money remains the same at $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.
That's slightly less than what the United States will pay its medallists, which is $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.
The Russian Olympic Committee announced last year it will dole out about $135,000 US for gold, $81,600 for silver, with bronze medallists collecting $54,400. Russia hosts the next Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi.
If a Canadian team wins a medal, each person on the team will receive the bonus. If the women's hockey team wins gold, for example, each of the 21 players will earn $20,000, for a total of $420,000. An athlete who wins more than one medal gets bonus money for each. Two gold and a bronze, for example, will mean a total of $50,000.
The Canadian Olympic Committee paid $255,000 in bonus money in Beijing for three gold, nine silver and six bronze medals.
