Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani athletes winning gold medals at the 29th Beijing Summer Olympics will receive 400,000 manats ($490,000) from the government and 200,000 manats from the National Olympics Committee, President Ilham Aliyev said.
"But money is not the main factor for winning. The main one taking sportsmen to victory is love for their motherland and the spirit of patriotism," Aliyev said, while receiving the delegation to represent Azerbaijan at the Olympics last Wednesday.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Azad Rahimov, said 3.15 million manats has been spent this year on preparations for the Olympics. He also said all issues - from physical and moral readiness of the athletes to organizational matters - have been resolved.
Rahimov said two types of clothing have been prepared to the ministry's order for Azerbaijani athletes. Official clothing has been ordered from Slovenia, while sports uniforms were ordered from a well-known brand in Switzerland. Azerbaijan's national attributes have been reflected on the clothing.
44 athletes will represent Azerbaijan at the Olympics in ten athletic categories. The Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, Farid Mansurov, will carry Azerbaijan's flag at the Olympics opening ceremony on Thursday. The competition will kick off the following day. In 2004, 38 Azerbaijani athletes took part in the Athens Olympics. The country, which ranked 37th among 202 states, then won one gold and four bronze medals.