The Money Report: Argentina’s Olympic Incentives

Argentina is giving sports diplomas and scholarships to its athletes who qualified for the Olympics.

Argentinas Travel: 130 of the amateur athletes headed to this year’s Olympics were honored by the Argentine government on Tuesday in Buenos Aires. According to the China View, the athletes received sportsmen diplomas and scholarships of 4,000 pesos.

Sports Minister Claudio Morresi attended the event and commented on what made it unique. He noted that while most countries honor their medal winners, Argentina was proud to honor their athletes for the incredible effort it took just to get to that place. Attendees included the members of the Argentine women’s field hockey team, Las Leonas, who recently won the Champions Trophy in Germany and are hoping for Olympic gold.

I particularly like that scholarship stuff because it encourages athletes to also think about going to school. Sports stars have shorter fame-minutes than Hollywood celebrities so its good if they also plan a future beyond sports. Surely, no one wants to be one of those “yesterday’s athletes who beg on the streets” that Nigeria’s Olosuji Fasuba lamented about here.

Note: For the financial and other incentives received by Olympic athletes from different country’s click here .

Related:
Country Report: Argentina’s Beijing Bound Athletes