With just over 100 days left until the official start of the Olympic Games, one of the most relevant sports of the largest multidisciplinary sporting event in the world confirmed news never seen before since the creation of the Olympic event.
Athletics will become the first sport to give an additional prize to those who win the gold medal in their events. The president of World Athletics, the international federation of the discipline, confirmed that each athlete who reaches the top of the podium in Paris 2024 will receive the sum of 50 thousand dollars.
“While it is impossible to place a commercial value on winning an Olympic medal, or the commitment and focus required to represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important that we start somewhere and ensure that part of the revenue generated for our athletes in the Olympic Games revert directly to those who make the Games the global spectacle that they are,” were the words of Sebastian Coe in a statement.
In this way, the organization in charge of athletics in the world confirmed that some USD 2.4 million will be allocated to pay each of the Olympic champions in the 48 events that athletics will have within the sports program of the Games that will take place. from July 26 to August 11 in the capital of France.
In the relay event, in which several athletes compete depending on the event, that money ($50,000) will be distributed among the members of said relay. In addition to this novelty, it was also confirmed that starting with the next Summer Olympic Games, that is, Los Angeles 2028, the payment will be extended to the silver and bronze medalists in each event on the athletics calendar.
The prize money will come from the portion of Olympic revenue that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) distributes to the international athletics federation and other governing bodies of individual sports. It is important to note that athletes must undergo “the usual anti-doping procedures” at the event before receiving the money, indicated the body that brings together athletics around the world.
It must be remembered that this is the first time that an organization that manages a discipline announces an extra payment to athletes who in this case are going to win gold at the Olympic Games, but it is usual for the National Olympic Committees of countries that are world powers They pay their athletes a sum of money as a reward after being medalists.
One of the cases that is always highlighted is that of the United States. This was the case of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which awarded the winners of a gold medal at the last Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games – held in 2021 after being postponed due to the pandemic – a prize of $37,500. .
After this announcement, the president of World Athletics Sebastian Coe was consulted about his intentions to run as a future candidate to be the next head of the IOC in view of the elections that will take place in 2025 to replace Thomas Bach, current leader of the organization.
“I have not ruled it out,” said the 66-year-old two-time Olympic champion, who will be re-elected to begin his third term at the head of the entity that governs the destinies of world athletics.
“When we talk about making our sport relevant to the lives of young people, we really mean making it relevant to their lifestyles. There are many things we need to address and my focus is solely on doing so,” she added.
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