USA Shooting has awarded $198,000 in monetary bonuses to the organization’s four Olympic medalists as part of its Athlete Incentive Reward program the organization announced Thursday.
Winning the most gold medals (3) of any team since 1984 certainly paid dividends for Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.), Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) and Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.) who each pocketed $60,000 from USA Shooting for their accomplishments. Each athlete set an Olympic record on their way to dominating victories. In addition, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) provided each gold-medal winning athlete with a $25,000 medal incentive.
Rhode and Hancock have combined to win four medals the last two Olympic Games. Hancock was the first skeet shooter to earn a repeat gold medal while Rhode also etched her name in Olympic history by becoming the first U.S. athlete competing in an individual sport to win medals in five consecutive Olympic Games. After earning a position in the finals in her three previous Olympic events, Gray captured a gold medal in the Women’s Three-Position Rifle events.
Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) finally earned the medal that had eluded him on two previous occasions after earning the bronze medal in the Men’s Three-Position Rifle event. The three-time Olympian has earned a medal of each color over the past three Olympic Games. His efforts earned him $18,000 from USA Shooting as part of its incentive program and another $10,000 from the USOC as part of its Operation Gold money.
USA Shooting’s incentive program took a team and individual approach with regards to financial payouts in 2012. The organization agreed to provide a base payout of $30,000 (gold) $20,000 (silver) and $15,000 (bronze) for the initial medal and increase that by $10,000 (gold) $5,000 (silver) and $3,000 (bronze) for each team medal won thereafter. The more medals the team won, the more each was worth.
Athletes in 2012 also had the chance to earn cash rewards for World Cup success including $1,500 (gold) $1,000 (silver) and $750 (bronze). New World Records with finals were also paid $2,000 while equaled World Records were worth $1,000. These bonuses accounted for an additional $12,500 in incentive payouts distributed by USA Shooting in 2012.
“The success of our organization is tied directly to the level of performances our athletes are able to achieve at the Olympic Games and in elite-level competition,” said USA Shooting CEO Robert Mitchell. “We are proud to be able to recognize our four Olympic medalists and six other athletes with financial incentives that hopefully make the diligent preparations worthwhile in the end. We thank our sponsors and donors along with the U.S. Olympic Committee in making such monetary benefits possible.”
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Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester® Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USAShooting Shotgun Team since 1999. Members of the 2008 shotgun team brought home four medals from Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting conservation, hunter education and our country’s proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visit www.winchester.com.About USA Shooting: