Azerbaijan promises $500,000 for Olympics gold winner

HELSINKI, FINLAND – JUNE 27: Mo Farah of Great Britain and Hayle Ibrahimov of Azerbaijan

Baku (Azerbaijan), July 4 – President Ilham Aliyev of the oil-rich Azerbaijan has signed a decree promising handsome bonuses to the country’s sportsmen and coaches who win medals in the 2012 Olympics in London.

A medal winner will receive 400,000 Azerbaijani manats ($500,000) for gold, 200,000 manats ($250,000) for silver, and 100,000 manats ($125,000) for bronze.

Under the current decree, their coaches will be paid 200,000 manats ($250,000) for gold, 100,000 manats ($125,000) for silver, and 50,000 manats ($62,500) for bronze medals.

Azerbaijani paralympians and their coaches in the event of the medal will also receive the bonus.

They will be paid 200,000 manats ($250,000) for gold, 100,000 manats ($125,000) for silver, and 50,000 manats ($62,500) for bronze. Their coaches will be paid 100,000 manats ($125,000), 50,000 manats ($62,500) and 25,000 manats ($31,000) respectively.

Azerbaijan’s 53 athletes have been qualified for the London Games.