Kazakhstan promises $250,000 for gold at Sochi Olympics

Kazakhstan Sport and Physical Culture Agency has announced the amounts of sportsmen’s awards for winning medals at the Sochi Olympics, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the official website of Kazakhstan's Prime-Minister Serik Akhmetov. “We suggest to leave the same remunerations 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 that this will be approved,” deputy chairman of the Agency Yelsiyar Kanagatov told www.primeminister.kz. He also said that 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 nearest time. “It is very difficult to calculate the expenses right now. It is a complex issue. The national teams directorate receives money from the Agency. We have received 472 million tenge ($3.1 million) from the general sponsor, Samruk-Kazyna fund. The sportsmen are also supported by local administrations,” Kanagatov said. The national Olympic team of Kazakhstan has already won 22 licenses in 6 sports for the Sochi Olympics 2014. According to the Agency’s forecasts, Kazakhstan will win over 40 licenses in 10 sports by the end of the year. The 27th 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. Olympic licenses will be distributed at tournaments until January 2014.