Olympic champions to earn $50,000, ending 128-year amateur tradition

Athletics has become the first sport to offer prize money to Olympic champions, announcing on Wednesday that the 48 gold medalists in Paris this year will earn $50,000 each. Silver and bronze medalists will also earn prize money, but only from the 2028 Los Angeles Games, with details to be announced at a later date.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a statement: "The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medalists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognizing the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games.

"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," Coe continued. World Athletics receives an IOC revenue share allocation every four years, which will be used to fund the prize pot of $2.4 million . 

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"While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal... I think it is important we 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."

Relay teams will share the winners' prize pot.

When Briton Coe won his 1,500 meters gold medals at the 1980 and 1984 Games, the Olympics was officially a competition for amateurs, as was athletics. Although his sport soon fully embraced professionalism, the Olympics has remained free from prize money, though athletes in many sports can expect hefty bonuses from sponsors for triumphing in the biggest shop window of all.

Athletics is the Olympics' biggest sport, by number of participants and TV audiences but the vast majority of the athletes, including many Olympic medalists, face a constant struggle for funding.

The Paris Olympics take place from July 26 to August 11.

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