Who pays for our "ambassadors"?

"Olympic athletes are our country's ambassadors", said Gianni Petrucci, president of the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni). "It would be normal they receive a special attention," he concluded. Petrucci was pointing to the taxes medal winners have to pay; a levy he wishes to lift.

Italian athletes are awarded €140.000 for a gold medal, €75.000 for a silver and 50.000€ for a bronze. Yet, after tax, they get only half the reward. The other half is taken by the State.

But what they get is still more than what French medal winners get.
In France, Olympic medals bonuses are tax exempted, but they 'only' earn €50.000 for gold, €20.000 for silver and €13.000 for bronze.

Although some countries are ready to splash over 400.000€ for a gold medal, as the war-stricken Georgia, France has opted for softer incentives, such as tax exemption on image rights. These amount to a present of 32 million euros, paid for by the Ministry of Sports.

But before their rise to fame draws in money from sponsors, who pays for our sports 'ambassadors'?

"It's unfair for the other athletes"

Bernard Amsalem is the president of the French Athletics Federation and executive of France's Olympic Committee. He agrees with his Italian colleague, but is opposed to the €32m package granted to Olympic champions, which penalises all athletes except those who make it to the Games.

The tax exemption on Olympic medals is voted for every Games by the National Assembly [Franc's parliament]. It is absolutely normal that the country should contribute to its athletes' efforts. In this case, the Ministry of Finance takes this tax out of their bills and it is the taxpayer who pays for it.

On the other side, I totally disagree with the €32m tax exemption on images rights granted to Olympic champions. When Laure Manaudou stars in an advert for a brand, Bercy [France's Finance Ministry] exempts her from tax, but the same amount is taken out of the Sports Ministry's budget, which gets only 0.20% of France's GDP.

It is highly unfair for other athletes. It also penalises national federations as this money could be more useful for the thousands of athletes in waiting than just three hundred of them.

I am not saying they should not get this tax exemption, but I would like the money to be granted by Bercy and not the Ministry of Sport, which desperatly needs that money.

Who pays for our "ambassadors"?

"It's unfair for the other athletes"

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