According to Reuters, Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe has really cashed in on her performance in Beijing.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe handed Coventry a $100,000 cash reward for her gold and three silver medals she obtained in the 2008 games. She was literally handed a breifcase full of cash. Other members of the Olympic team got payouts of $2,000 to $10,000.
This is kind of odd, considering the dire straights the Zimbabwean eceonomy is in right now. Last time I checked, the inflation in that country is somewhere around 11 million percent (no joke).
Guess it pays to be an athlete, wherever you are from.
3 Responses to “Kirsty Coventry cashes in”
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August 30th, 2008 at 6:31 am
I’ve often wondered how some of these athletes from smaller countries (and even some of the less successful ones in our Country) make it with their dedication to the sport. Most have no jobs, and if they do, they are away from it from an extended period of time.
Great read.
August 30th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Seems like a lot of athletes from the US are employed by Home Depot…I don’t know how that fits into this story, but yeah.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am
LOL. I am not sure whether I should laugh at that comment or not.