As Russia is trying to come to grips with its disastrous performance in Vancouver, Russian athletes have to deal with their personal financial disappointments.

Losing in Vancouver means not only missing an important career milestone, but also forgoing a hefty bonus that Russian government was planning to award for every Olympic gold. The bonus amount: $1 million.

Russia, where the sports industry still functions in the Soviet style and where the athletes are effectively still government employees (most of the financing comes from the state and the government-owned companies, and the country's leaders sign off on all major hiring decisions), hoped that the $1 million bonus will help to motivate its star athletes to perform better at the Olympics and at the same time show the younger generation of Russian athletes that winning the Olympics can be financially rewarding.

Well, it did not work. The good news is, however, that more money is left for the oligarchs' bailouts.

Send email to Tatyana Foley, the author of this post, at tfoley@readrussia.com.

Russian Athletes Will Receive $1 Million for Gold Medals [Vesti.ru (in Russian)]