20,000 euros for a gold medal – that’s how much athletes from Germany get for their success in Paris. Too little, many think. The drugstore chain Rossmann is now offering bonuses of its own.
dpa
21.08.2024 – 05:27 a.m.
Hanover – Medals at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are more financially worthwhile for German athletes than before. In addition to the bonuses from the German Sports Aid, the drugstore chain Rossmann wants to distribute money to German athletes for gold, silver and bronze. For first place at the Olympic Games in four years, there will be 20,000 euros, for second place 15,000 euros and for third place 10,000 euros.
The amounts are based on the payouts from the German Sports Aid Foundation – with one crucial difference: “If you win two medals, you get the bonus twice! Teams receive a flat rate of 100,000 euros per medal,” the company said.
“Top-level sport must be worthwhile”
“Top-class sport must be worthwhile and that is not just the responsibility of the federal government, but also of us as a society! I hope that we can not only create an incentive for athletes, but also motivate other supporters,” said Raoul Roßmann, the spokesman for the management of the Lower Saxony-based company.
Around the summer games in Paris, German athletes had criticized the existing bonuses in Germany as being too low. Swimming world champion Angelina Köhler, who came fourth in the 100 meter butterfly in France, said on a TV show: “I don’t think it’s right that people at the ‘Summer House of the Stars’ win 50,000 euros and athletes who win a gold medal at the Olympic Games only get 20,000 euros.”
