Track and field is slated to be the first Olympic event to offer reward money. The World Athletics announced that gold medalists in the 2024 Paris Olympics from the said sport will receive a sum of $50,000.
In one of the most watched games of the Olympics, the move represents a significant breaking from the sport’s amateur tradition.
The sports governing body announced that it will put aside $2.4 million to compensate the gold medal winners in each of the 48 men’s, women’s, and mixed events on the track and field schedule at the Olympics in Paris this year. The $50,000 will be divided among the members of the relay teams.
Track and field athletes as ‘stars of the show’
In a statement, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe declared that this move is to acknowledge that their athletes are the stars of the show and that this is reflected in the revenue share that they receive.
Moreover, the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are scheduled to kick off the payment of medals for silver and bronze. The award money will be deducted from the portion of Olympic earnings that World Athletics receives from the IOC.
However, before the Paris Games, the action might have tipped the Olympic movement’s power balance. Coe said that World Athletics had only provided the International Olympic Committee with “a heads-up” about its plans, just before the statement was released.
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Source: AP News
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