29 July 2024
Annotation: On July 31, judoka Michaela Polleres won bronze, Austria's first medal in Paris.
No medals for Austria at the Olympics yet, but impressive performances by athletes for a country of 9 million
While the most important thing is to participate according to the Olympic creed, winning medals is the goal of every team. Today, the two Austrians Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler rowed their way into the Olympic semi-finals, which will take place on Wednesday.
For a small country like Austria with 9 million inhabitants compared to the current gold medal champ China with a population of 1.4 billion or the country with the most medals, the United States, with 334 million inhabitants (medal table checked today on https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/medals), achievements like the time of the rowers Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler, which were the third fastest, or yesterday's 6th place of the mountain biker Laura Stigger in the women's cross country are great. 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent aroud 10,500 athletes. Austria has sent 81 athletes.
Although the original Olympic motto is 'Faster, Higher, Stronger,' the community aspect was incorporated several years ago into the new motto, 'Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together,' which also reflects the idea of the Olympic creed that the most important thing is to participate in this sporting event (https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-motto).
But for an athlete, winning a medal is not only a personal affirmation of athletic achievement, it is also a financial reward. And this year, the medal bonuses for Austrian athletes have been increased. Gold medalists will now receive 20,000 euros, silver medalists 17,000 euros and bronze medalists 14,000 euros, all in the form of Philharmonic gold coins produced by Münze Österreich. |