Belarusian athletes who win gold medals at the Beijing Olympics will be provided with meat and sausage for the rest of their lives, a meat company said last week.
The women’s national basketball team, which will take part in the Olympic Games for the first time, will get the reward if they secure any medal, Boris Tsyporin, general director of Latvian-Belarusian meat and frozen foods producer Belatmeat, was quoted by Belarusian media as saying.
In addition to monetary rewards from Games organizers and sponsorship deals, Belarusian athletes will be given $100,000, $50,000, and 30,000 each in their home country for gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Too bad I wasn’t born as a Belarusian! I love meat. Especially red meat! Heck, I’ll eat sausage, if I need to. Are hot dogs considered meat?
I wonder how long it will be before Belarusian athletes start looking like NASCAR drivers and cyclists with their sponsors’ logos all over their uniforms?
I guess the days of competing simply because you love the sport or competing is over.
What do you think? Have amateur athletics become too professional?
