MOSCOW — Russian sports authorities will more than double bonus payments for medal winners at the 2010 Winter Olympics in a bid for a record-beating performance.

Deputy Sports Minister Gennady Alyoshin said Tuesday that gold medal winners will receive $135,000 while winners of silver will earn roughly $81,600 and bronze medalists $54,400.
“Such incentives are not matched by any other country,” said Vladimir Vasin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Officials have high hopes that a strong performance in Vancouver could be a springboard for 2014, when Russia’s southern city of Sochi hosts the Winter Olympics.
Russia is aiming for around 40 medals, with a minimum of nine golds, at next year’s games. That would be almost double the country’s 22-medal haul in Turin, Italy, in 2006.