ADVERTISEMENTRussian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev thanked National Olympic team members for their achievements in Rio and rewarded them with a BMW each at a ceremony which took place in the Kremlin on Thursday.
Gold medallists were given luxury X6s, those who earned silver were handed X5s while bronze medallists walked away with X3s.
Russia has been at the centre of a doping scandal over the past year. The country’s entire track and field athletics team was banned from taking part in the Rio Games after the publication of the McLaren report in July.
The report revealed evidence of a systematic and widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Russian contingent still finished fourth at the Rio Olympics with 19 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze medals.
#Russia's PM
MedvedevRussiaE</a> awarded Russian <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympic?src=hash">#Olympic</a> medalists <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/German?src=hash">#German</a>-made <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BMW?src=hash">#BMW</a> X6 cars as Ladas are too nice <a href="https://t.co/ITYepw9C9d">pic.twitter.com/ITYepw9C9d</a></p>— Sputnik (Sputnik_Not) August 25, 2016