What price an Olympic gold?

http://www.yahoo.com/s/273918

TURIN (Reuters) - The United States hands out $25,000, France offers 40,000 euros but Russia says it pays the most.

The price of an Olympic gold medal keeps going up.

But for some countries, the debate over whether to offer money for medals has yet to get under way in earnest.

"It's not all off the table but it's not gone through a true discussion," Canada's chief technical officer and head coach, Alex Gardiner, told a news conference.

"As a coach I've never thought in these terms. The world is doing it, more people are becoming professionals ... and there's got to be some incentive. But sometimes passion is compromised by dollars," he said, offering a Chinese expression for support.

"Once the archer is shooting for gold, his hands start to shake."

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Great Chinese quote.

that somehow the athletes in the Olympics have to all be amateurs who live in poverty?

It should be the best in the world, and if it takes some cash, so be it. I get tired of this moral purity bullshit. The games started out as amateurs because there were very few professional sports at the time.

and arrogant basketball players. It wasn't that long ago that they were amatuers, and yes, it's now a business, and not love of the sport. I, for one, think it's a sad state of affairs.

...would be a hell of a lot more romantic, if it weren't such a steaming crock of shit. Does anybody believe that the old Soviet-bloc athletes were truly amateurs?