Nidec Sankyo Corp, the sponsor of a Japanese speed skating team has announced that it will pay out $219,054 to any athlete on the team who wins gold at the Vancouver Olympics. The pay out this year is double the amount from the 2006 Turin Games. The President of the company told the Yomiuri newspaper, “I want it to be enough to build a splendid home.”? That is some purse! I would imagine that thought alone would push an extra second out of an elite athlete!
According to the Associated Press, “Nidec will also pay a $109,527 bonus for a silver medal and $65,716 for a bronze. Yasukawa is putting up half of the prize money himself, with the company providing the rest.”
(Picture from ceremony during the Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating Nagano at the Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena in Nagano, Japan.)
