2012 London Summer Olympics

Road to London 2012: Tsarukyan promises $700K for Olympic gold

02.07.12

Armenian athletes winning gold medals in the upcoming Olympic Games in London will be rewarded with $700,000 by Gagik Tsarukyan, an influential businessman and politician who also heads the National Olympic Committee of Armenia (NOCA).

At a press conference late last week, NOCA Deputy Chairman Derenik Gabrielyan said the bonuses would be paid in addition to more modest financial rewards promised by the Armenian government - 30 million drams (about $72,000) for a gold medal, 20 million drams (about $48,000) and 10 million drams (about $24,000) for a silver and bronze, respectively.

The NOCA head and the government set similar rewards ahead of the latest Olympic Games in Beijing, China, four years ago. Armenian athletes won six bronze medals then. Overall, Armenian athletes managed to win only one gold medal on their four participations in Olympics as an independent nation.

Armenia will be represented by 25 athletes competing in ten sports at the Olympic Games in London to be held July 27 through August 12. Weightlifting and wrestling are the sports that Armenia expects its gold medals to come from.