Kazakhstan to give prize money to athletes winning in Olympics

Kazakhstan Tuesday announced it will be paying $250,000 to every national athlete winning a gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Addressing a news conference, Culture and Sports Minister Aktotu Raimkulova stated that 96 athletes in 27 branches will represent Kazakhstan at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

The minister said that gold medal winners would be paid $250,000, silver medal winners $150,000 and bronze winners would be paid $75,000.

In the past, Kazakhstan has won a total of 71 medals in the Summer Olympics, including 16 gold medals.

The long-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8 in the shadow of coronavirus, without international spectators.

More than 11,000 athletes from 205 nations will compete at the games, which were postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.