he was better then Alberto Tomba

snowless Mike

think that sports are only being subsidized by the commies ??
i believe that we here in US are paying every one of our gold medal winners $20,000, and just a little less for silver
thats fine

they were talking (NBC) about what other countries pay their athletes for a medal ...
i've heard $100,000 US dollars paid for gold for Russian athletes
i've heard of mid-east athletes getting (what they need most) a house, or a job, or a promotion, AND money,

everyone loves a winner


anyone see that lady from Buhrain in a Burka !!! (sp?) running the 200m ? she did really good in one of the pre-races

???

are you dumbfounded, disbelieving, or curious ?

If you are saying the gov't is paying, i'm disbelieving

i believe i said that we here in the US ,

i heard it on the TV and was watching two stations at the same time so not really paying attention to either,
but since you appear to like to pick on things that i post here , i did a 3-second search with google and found this:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930511&slug=1700567




i also think i can run a 4 minute mile

Pick on things you post?

That is a 15 yr old article and the USOC is not a gov't entity is it?

again, one more time for the slow ... i never said it was the "gov't", and maybe in 5 years the amount has gone up a few bucks,
dude ,you argue about the most rediculous stuff,

watch more sports and drink less beer while staring at a laptop

Are you saying the USOC gets no government funding? I think it does. SO while the government of the US doesn't pay the athletes directly, I am almost certain that your tax dollars do. But if you can find proof otherwise, I'll be happy to read it and change my mind.

I wish I could get paid to "train" at one of the excellent facilities!

WTF is your problem? I originally asked of you were saying the gov't was paying them, that all. You quote a 15 (not 5) year old article about the USOC and I'm ridiculous? Perhaps you need to cut back on the crack dude cause you're making unsubstansiated statements as fact and I'm sorry you don't like to be called on it but that's life.

Billy I'm not sure where the USOC gets the money it it uses to pay them money for expenses or medals or whatever. I thought they were funded mainly by corporate donations but I'm sure they get gov't money as well for things like training facilities. I doubt it is near the levels of countries like China or Russia though.

You guys are ignorant if you think US athletes aren't paid.

They try to hide it from the general public, but Olympic level athletes are paid a "stipend" by the USOC.

I don't know exactly how much that is, but a friend of mine made the Olympics in 1996 in a minor sport and his stipend was about $50,000 at that time. He said that major sports could be 3-4X at that time - that was 12 years ago.

It is true that coaching, travel, equipment and competition expenses can be high for a world-class athlete, however the stipend, originally intented to cover those costs, has grown way beyond that.

Look at the houses these folks live in in their profiles. It wouldn't surprise me if "major" sport athletes get $200,000 to $500,000 a year.

I don't think anyone questioned if they got paid. Many have sponsors as well, like phelps is sponsored by speedo and got a million dollar bonus for completing his medal run. They don't pose on Wheaties boxes for free. I don't blame them for cashing in, heck who wouldn't?

I questioned if the US Government was handing out checks for medals as it was alluded to.

Aww hell guys... we are paying one way or another. Either as a taxpayer or consumer. How much of the price of a pair of $60 Nike shoes is due to them paying Tiger or Michael Jordon to wear a swoosh? I dunno but it's got to be covered.