Prize money for athletes to 'polarize' Olympics 

Plans to pay prize money to athletes taking part in the Olympic Games this summer, risks "polarizing" the games, according to one sports historian. 

Philip Barker, editor of the Journal of Olympic History, told CGTN Europe that the plans put the tradition of the 'gentleman amateur' among competitors at risk. 

World Athletics, the international athletics federation, says it will pay Olympic gold medal winners $50,000 at the Paris games in July. The athletics governing body is putting aside a budget of $2.4m to reward winners across 48 events at the track and field programme. Plans are also underway to pay silver and bronze medallists at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Its President Sebastian Coe has admitted it is "a pivotal moment" for the Olympic movement but not at odds with the spirit of the games. "The beneficiaries of growth are the sports and ultimately the athlete," he said. "I think this sits firmly behind those principles and philosophies that they espouse as well."

Sports historian Phillip Barker disagrees vehemently. He told CGTN Europe: "It's something that's going to polarize the Olympic world, not because the Olympics are amateur anymore, as they once were, but because the positioning of the Olympic Games is always that they're so much more than just a sporting event."

Describing a "pecking order" for Olympic sports, he predicted that the largest payments will be awarded to those taking part in track, gymnastics and aquatics events.

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Barker points out that this is not the first time financial incentives have been used at the games

"In fact, in 1993, in Stuttgart .. because Mercedes was sponsoring the championship and each winner got a car that was valued at around $28,000.”

However, describing regulations written when the modern games began in 1896, he adds the Olympic authorities "set great store by being a gentleman amateur… There were people who were actually excluded from the Olympics because if they … played professionally as a cricketer, they couldn't compete as a footballer. So (it was) much, much stricter in those days.”

Defending the change, the International Olympic Committee insists that the bulk of its budgets still go to promoting sport around the world. "This means that, every day, the equivalent of $4.2 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world," it said. 

The reaction from competitors  has been mixed. Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who plans to take part in the Paris games called it "a good thing … considering at the last Olympics there was no prize money at all."

Norwegian Hurdler Karsten Warholm agreed, saying: "To me it doesn't change my motivation to win because, for the Olympics I'm not in it for the money. But when it comes to building a professional sport, I think it's going in the right direction."

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