Track and field to be first sport to award prize money at Paris Olympics with gold medalists receiving $50K
A prize pot of $2.4 million will pay out 48 event winners with relay teams splitting the winnings
World Athletics announced Wednesday that it will be the first international federation to award prize money beginning with this summer's Paris Olympics in France.
A total prize pot of $2.4 million will be available, with gold medalists in the 48 track and field events each receiving $50,000. Relay teams will split the winnings.
Silver and bronze medalists will receive monetary prizes beginning with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
"The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a statement.
“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport."
The prize money will be taken out of the revenue share from the Olympics that the International Olympic Committee distributes to World Athletics.
“The IOC redistributes 90% of all its income, in particular to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs),” the IOC said in a statement. “This means that, every day, the equivalent of $4.2 million goes to help athletes and sports organizations at all levels around the world. It is up to each IF and NOC to determine how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport.”
Athletes will have to pass the "usual anti-doping procedures" in order to receive the money, World Athletics said.
Prize money will not apply at the Paralympics, which will begin in August, as Para-athletics is governed by World Para Athletics.
The IOC does not award prize money to medalists, but winners do receive payments via sponsors, governments and national sports bodies. According to The Associated Press, gold medalists at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo each received $37,500 from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee
The Olympic spirit of amateurism has been long gone, and Coe sees this as a way to reward the athletes for what they've put into their individual sports.
"I don't see that making life a little easier for the athletes, allowing them maybe to stay on in the sport a little bit longer, to give them the financial independence to train, and maybe in a more sophisticated way is anything other than sitting behind good firm Olympic principles," said Coe.
Could other sports follow World Athletics' lead? Coe declined to comment on what other sports governing bodies should do.
Taking track and field in this direction could be a precursor to how Coe might operate should he decide to run for IOC president.
Current IOC president Thomas Bach's term ends in 2025, and Coe said last year, “I haven’t ruled it in, and I certainly haven’t ruled it out" when asked about whether he would run for the post.
Coe understands the level of effort that goes into competing for an Olympic medal. He won back-to-back golds in the 1500m in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, as well as silver in both Games in the 800m. The athletes make the events and he sees this idea as a move in the right direction to reward them.
“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games," Coe said. "I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is."
