Estonia's Silver Medal winner Kristina Šmigun-Vähi will receive a plot of land in Haabersti and 1.1 million Estonian kroons--approximately 95,000 USD--from the state for her victory in the women's ten-kilometer cross country freestyle skiing event. Her trainer/father will receive 550,000 kroons. Šmigun-Vähi's teammate Tatjana Mannima who finished 58th, will receive a month's supply of free sausages from the Rakvere Meat Factory, Šmigun-Vähi's principal sponsor. "Tanya and I are like sisters," Šmigun-Vähi told CNN, "and so I felt bad for her getting nothing. So I decided to organize some sausage."Other Estonians who participated in the event but did not finish in top 78 will receive, according to a government press release, "jackshit."
Šmigun-Vähi (left) and teammate Mannima (right) share a love of sausage.
Is jackshit a good thing?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for the Rakvere Meat Factory, let me say I'm proud of the job Kristina did for Estonia and for The Meat, as we call it here in Rakvere. Sausage has always been an important part of life in Estonia. At Kristina's wedding, she and her groom were not showered with rice. Rather they were covered in a deluge of link sausage. Hard to get more romantic than that. So let's get behind our athletes and their sausages. Hooray Kristina! Hooray The Meat!
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