Kazakhstan promises $250,000 for gold at Sochi Olympics

    Kazakhstan's Sport and Physical Culture Agency has announced the amounts of awards for athletes that win medals at the Sochi Olympics, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the official website of Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov.
    “We suggest leaving the same remuneration we had for the London and Vancouver Olympics: $250 thousand for a gold medal, $150 thousand for silver and $75 thousand for bronze, fourth, fifth and sixth places. We hope this will be approved,” Deputy Chairman of the Agency Yelsiyar Kanagatov told www.primeminister.kz.
    He added the agency was expecting the State Budget Commission to review the agency's request of 1 billion tenge ($6.7 million) for training before the Sochi Olympics in the near future.
    “It is very difficult to calculate expenses right now. It is a complex issue. The national team's directorate receives money from the agency. We have received 472 million tenge ($3.1 million) from the general sponsor, the Samruk-Kazyna fund. The athletes are also supported by local administrations,” Kanagatov said.
    Kazakhstan's Olympic team has already won 22 licenses in 6 sports for the Sochi Olympics 2014. According to the agency's forecasts, Kazakhstan will win over 40 awards in 10 sports by the end of the year.
    The 27^th Winter Olympics in Sochi will be held on February 7-23, 2014. 98 sets of medals in 15 sports will be awarded at the Games, according to www.tengrinews.kz.