French Ministry Of Sports To Pay Out $2.8M In Bonuses To Olympic Athletes

The French Ministry of Sports will have to pay a sum of €2.3M ($2.8M) to its Olympic medalists, according to Olivia Derreumaux of LE FIGARO. The Ministry of Sports had set a €50,000 ($61,380) bonus for a Gold Medal, €20,000 ($24,552) for Silver and €13,000 ($15,958) for Bronze. The men's handball team, which won the Gold for a second consecutive time will cost the ministry the most. They will take in €750,000 ($920,700) by themselves followed by the women's basketball team, which took home the Silver and thus a prize of €240,000 ($294,624). The €2.3M does not include the bonuses for the Paralympic Games that are set to start on Aug. 29. The bonuses will be the same then those that were given out for the Olympics and "the bill could inflate quickly." In Beijing, Paralympic athletes "brought back" 52 medals, meaning 18 more than what was won in the London Games. However, unless anything incredible takes place, the €5M ($6.1M) that was budgeted by the ministry for both events should be sufficient (LE FIGARO, 8/13).