"And the reality is that these Olympians make a lot of personal sacrifices through the years, and they ought to, you know, get some kind of recognition from all of us and this is a small, small token of that particular acknowledgement," St. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said.
Critics point out that Nobel Prize winners aren't exempt, and neither are professional athletes. An Olympic gold medal earns the winner $25,000.
