How Much Money Do Olympians Make? | London 2012

Well, they receive more “reward” money than their American counterparts who get US$25,000 for a gold medal. But they don’t do as well as Thai gold medalists who are given US$314,000.

From the China Daily:

China’s gold medal winners at the Beijing Olympics will be taking home cash along with their medals, state media reported Tuesday.

Each gold medalist will get 350,000 yuan (US$51,000) each, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Xiao Shan, the deputy head of China’s General Administration of Sports.

The prize compares to the 200,000 yuan (US$29,000) handed out to gold medal winners after the 2004 Olympic games, the report said.

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In ten days, the Beijing Paralympic Games will begin. I hope to blog about it of course and I hope that no unscheduled projects will come my way so that — unlike the Olympics that just passed — I can do the blogging regularly.

Who’s the athlete to watch in the Paralympic Games? I’m not sure if my kailiyan from the boondocks, Adeline Dumapong is going to the Games but she’s a force to reckon with in powerlifting.

Here’s the link for those of you looking for the official website of the Paralympic Games.

Photo credit: beijing paralympics

Here’s another one I should have blogged about last week but didn’t because of a tight schedule: Panama’s Irving Saladino who lived up to the hype by outjumping the competition in the men’s long jump. Congratulations, Irving.

Update: Here’s a video of Irving’s golden jump.

And here’s a picture, courtesy of estrelladepanama, of the Olympic hero’s homecoming.

Interestingly, the Panama Guide reports that Irving was “re-awarded” his medal during his homecoming. Why go through the process of awarding the medal to him again? Panama Guide has the juicy details:

As part of the festivities yesterday, Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran “re-presented” the Olympic Gold medal to Irving Saladino in front of thousands of cheering fans at the steps to the ACP administration building in Balboa yesterday morning.

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I got busy doing some other stuff so I wasn’t able to update this blog during the Olympics but this doesn’t mean that I will stop blogging about our Olympic champions

Our fist post-Olympic post would be about Oussama Mellouli, winner of the 1,500 meter race in swimming, who went home to Tunisia and was deservedly welcomed as a hero. Good for him!

Here’s what Oussama says about his Olympic victory:

“I return to Tunisia carrying not just a medal, but a gold medal. It’s the gold medal that all Tunisians have been waiting for. Thank God I did what I’m supposed to do, and even more.”

This is a comeback of sorts for Oussama since, as you may already know, he was banned in 2007 for taking Adderall, an amphetamine for ADD medication which is reportedly being used by students who are cramming for exams. Oussama claims that he took in the substance to help himself in writing a term paper not to gain any advantage over other swimmers.

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Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen who won the gold medal in the javelin throw is probably the best medal biter I’ve seen in the Beijing Games. Seriously, have you seen a better practitioner of the art of Olympic medal biting than Andreas?
Congratulations to you Andreas. May you have another gold medal to bite in London 2012.

Photo source: beijing2008