World Athletics, the governing body for world athletics, announced on Wednesday that it will begin rewarding athletes for success at the 2024 Paris Summer Games. This is a major departure from the Olympic's “amateur” roots.
World Athletics has announced that it will set aside $2.4 million from the IOC's revenue-sharing allocation to pay gold medalists in all 48 Olympic track and field events this summer. This amounts to $50,000 for each individual gold and $50,000 for each relay gold. The governing body said it would also provide funding to silver and bronze medalists from the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
This is a big departure from the traditional way the Olympics reward athletes for their success. Medalists can receive bonuses from their national teams (or personal sponsors) for reaching the podium, but the IOC and its international governing body have never previously compensated athletes for their success. The World Athletics Games program is more meritocratic, creating a direct link between the IOC's Olympic revenues and payments to the Games' most famous athletes.
The IOC said in a statement that it would distribute 90% of the proceeds, leaving it to “each” international federation and national team to decide how to spend it.
There may also be broader implications here. World Athletics is run by former Olympian and British politician Sebastian Coe, who is seen as a front-runner to become the next IOC president when Thomas Bach's term ends next year. World Athletics' decision to pay the gold medalist could signal a change in philosophy at the highest level if he becomes manager in the future.
“While it is impossible to put a market value on Olympic medal wins, it is important to start somewhere and ensure that a portion of the revenue generated by athletes at the Olympics goes directly back to them,” Coe said in a statement. I think so.'' To those who make the Olympics a worldwide spectacle. ”
Olympic prize money is less than what World Athletics pays athletes for success at the world championships. At the 2023 competition in Budapest, the gold medalist will receive $70,000, with payments up to eighth place ($5,000).
However, this is more than what many national teams pay their stars at the Olympics. The U.S. team gave athletes $37,500 for each gold medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Japan donated approximately $45,000 and South Africa approximately $37,000.
World Athletics reported revenue of $237.5 million over the four-year period 2019-2022.
