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World Athletics will become the first sports federation to pay out prize money at the Olympics, giving leading athletes at this year’s Paris Games greater financial incentive in a move that could rankle with the event’s governing body.
Track and field athletes will earn $50,000 for winning gold in France this summer, World Athletics said on Wednesday, with relay teams set to share the same amount.
World Athletics has earmarked $2.4mn for gold medal winners across 48 events this year, funded from the money allocated by the International Olympic Committee. The federation also committed to extending prize money to silver and bronze medallists at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Sebastian Coe, World Athletics president, highlighted the need to share revenues with the athletes who help make the Games a global spectacle and emphasised the importance of retaining talent at a time when elite competitors in other sports such as football and basketball command millions of dollars a year in salary.
Coe, who won Olympic gold in the 1,500 metre race in 1980 and 1984, said “the world has changed” since his years on the track. However, he denied that the decision was at odds with the Olympic spirit and set out his ambition to increase the financial rewards for athletes.
“It’s really important that . . . we create a sport that is financially viable for our competitors,” he told journalists on a call. “If I thought athletes were only competing because there was a financial pot or prize at the end of the day I might have a different view.”
World Athletics’ decision could prove controversial with the IOC ahead of the 53rd Olympic Games, which start in Paris in late July. Around 10,500 athletes are set to participate.
Coe did not discuss the initiative with IOC president Thomas Bach but World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon informed the IOC ahead of the announcement, according to the federation. The IOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federations are typically responsible for the technical rules that govern their sport, while national sports bodies or governments pay winning athletes at the Games.
Michael Payne, a former IOC marketing director, warned that the IOC and other federations might “not be best pleased” if they were not given sufficient warning ahead of the announcement.
“Whether it’s a good idea or not . . . they can’t all of a sudden before Paris pull a rabbit out of the hat,” Payne told the Financial Times, adding that the move “will put other federations under pressure”.
Coe said paying prize money was “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”.
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