Motors for medals: Russia’s Olympic prizewinners to be rewarded with fleet of brand new cars at official Kremlin ceremony
Russia's successful Olympic athletes, who competed in the Tokyo Games under the Team ROC banner, will be presented with new cars this weekend to herald their achievements in Japan.
Russia's athletes picked up a very respectable medal haul throughout the Tokyo Olympics, wracking up a total of 20 golds, 28 silvers and 23 bronze medals throughout the event to finish in fifth position in the overall medals table.
To mark their achievement, details of a traditional ceremony to celebrate Russian athletes' impressive showing in Tokyo have been announced, with September 10 revealed as the date for event which will take place in the Kremlin, per the executive director of the Russian Olympians Support Fund, Alexander Katushev.
"The ceremony is to take place on Friday, September 10, immediately after the Olympians receive state awards in the Kremlin," said Katushev.
But while the celebrations to honor Russia's outstanding athletes is public knowledge, Katushev is keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to the specific model of car which will be presented.
"Let's keep the intrigue. But I can say that these will be decent, very high-quality cars," he said – even though officials elsewhere have already hinted the vehicles will be BMWs.
Katushev stated that there will be three separate classes of car being awarded, with the highest class being given to the sportspeople who successfully returned home with gold – but that's not to mean that those who secured Russia's 23 bronze medals will be disappointed.
"At the same time, we strove to ensure that the cars looked similar," added Katushev.
Awarding cars to successful athletes has become something of a tradition, with the same ceremony taking place after previous editions of the Summer and Winter Games, including the Rio Olympics five years ago.
