The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) will offer EUR 70,000 to each Romanian athlete who will win gold at this year’s Rio Olympics, said COSR president Alin Petrache.

COSR has doubled the prizes for the athletes who win medals at the Olympics as the medal count has dropped significantly. Romania only got nine medals, two of which were gold, at the 2012 London Olympics, down from 26 medals (11 gold) at Sydney in 2000.

Besides the money prizes, the athletes who win medals at the Rio Olympics will also get cars from Renault, one of COSR's sponsors. The gold medalists will get special edition Renault Kadjar SUVs.

The local federations expect the Romanian athletes to bring home between six and nine medals from the Rio Olympics, Petrache said, according to local Agerpres.

Some 100 Romanian athletes qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. COSR is to announce this week the name of the athlete who will hold the Romanian flag at the Olympics.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will take place between August 5 and August 21 in Rio de Janeiro.

Romania has won a total of 301 medals at the summer Olympics, 88 of which gold, 94-silver, and 119 - bronze.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Rio 2016 on Facebook)