GEL 1 mln for Olympic Gold

The state will give GEL 1 million to any Georgian sportsman winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, President Saakashvili said.

“I want you to come back from Beijing with gold medals and with one million,” Saakashvili told a group of 28 Georgian sportsmen, who will take part in the Olympic Games, at a meeting on July 21.

Georgia won two golds and two silvers in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The two gold medalists of the Athens Olympic Games, Giorgi Asanidze (a weightlifter who is now a ruling party lawmaker) and Zurab Zviadauri (judo), received an award of GEL 25,000 from the Georgia government, and an additional GEL 400,000 each from tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died in February this year.