The financial issue is one of the most pressing issues for isolated Russian athletes. The RIA Novosti Sport columnist analyzes the situation in cross-country skiing and tells how much our skiers are currently earning.
From open sources you can find out that in the stages of the World Cup last season, three-time Olympic champion Alexander Bolshunov won a prize money of 98 thousand dollars. At the current exchange rate, this is about 6.5 million rubles. And how much will this amount decrease at the end of the current season?
Everyone remembers the scandal that Dmitry Guberniev inflated last year. He was very angry that Russian skiers were running “for trophies and medals”. As time has shown, all the comments — Another attempt to punch through FLGR and its leadership. This became clear after the results of the November check in Khanty-Mansiysk, where the winners of the usual training races received 20,000 rubles each.
Spoiler: The situation isn’t the best, but it’s not as bad as most people think. Let’s just take the Russian Cup as a base though — The current alternative to the World Cup, but as a concrete example — all the same Bolshunov. How much has the star Russian skier already earned following the results of the six stages?
At the stage of the Russian Cup, the winner of the race receives 100 thousand rubles, the second – 80 thousand, the third – 60 thousand, the fourth, fifth and sixth – 40, 20 and 10 thousand, respectively. Bolshunov has taken part in 18 races so far. We will not describe in detail the results of the skier on each take-off, we will limit ourselves to the overall numbers: he won eight times, plus another six hits on the podium.
Thus, for the victory in the overall standings of the mini-tour, which took place in Chusovoy in December, this is 1,270 thousand rubles, another 200 thousand. Total – prize money of 1,470,000 rubles according to the results of the six stages of the Cup of Russia. Considering that Bolshunov will miss the next one in Krasnogorsk, only the final of the tournament scheduled for April in Kirovsk remains.
If you look at it only from this point of view, the suspension from international competitions hit the wallet of the leaders of the Russian team pretty hard. But there are also a few “buts”.
Ahead is the alternate world championship – “Champion Heights” and the Russian championship. Given the situation, the cash prizes in these tournaments should be pretty decent by today’s standards. Also remember that every athlete has a monthly salary that consists of several parts.
This could be a rate, for example, in the Russian Armed Forces or the Sports Training Center (TSSP). There may be an option where the athlete is listed both there and there but part time. In addition, athletes have working contracts with the regions they represent in domestic competitions.
Take, for example, an Olympic champion skier. According to verified information, the basic salary of such an athlete ranges from 150 thousand rubles per month or more. Let’s add to this the presidential scholarship for success at the Games – 52 thousand rubles. And also a contract with the territory. Total – more than 250 thousand rubles per month. We also consider personal sponsors for whom signing contracts is not prohibited.
Remember that the skier is at the disposal of the national team for most of the year. Travel, accommodation, food, equipment – all this is not included in the expense of the athlete.
Conclusion: athletes are far from poor. Yes, there are tangible financial losses, but the situation cannot be called critical. And compared to some of the other top Olympic sports, the chart is really good.
At the same time, paradoxically, it is the leaders of the Russian national team who lost more than others due to suspension. Second-tier skiers, on the contrary, even had a chance to improve their financial situation to some extent. After all, those who usually only dream of getting into the top 6 at the World Cup have done it quite successfully in local tournaments. It’s not bad that the competition within the Russian team, driven by the motivation and the situation, has increased.
Source: Ria
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