INTERNATIONAL athletics chief Primo Nebiolo has confirmed prize money will be paid at all major championships after next year's Atlanta Olympics whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approves or not.
'After the Atlanta Olympic Games I believe that we have to study and to examine the possibility of having indemnity expenses in our five great events,' Nebiolo said at the World Indoor Championships. 'They are the two World Championships and the two World Indoor Championships and the World Cup.
'We will discuss this possibility with the IOC. If the IOC refuses to discuss this problem the problem will be faced by us alone.' International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) sources said Nebiolo was referring to prize money when he mentioned indemnities and added there would be prize money on offer at the next World Championships in 1997.
The championships are scheduled for Mexico City although it appears increasingly likely that the Mexican financial crisis will force the IAAF to switch venues. A final decision is expected this week.
No prize or appearance money has ever been paid at an IAAF World Championships, though Mercedes cars were given to gold medallists at the 1993 Stuttgart championships.
The question of prize money has been given added urgency by the lacklustre three-day championships in Barcelona which were desperately short of big names.
Indoor championships will never attract the same fields as outdoor events because, as British chief coach Malcolm Arnold pointed out, indoor athletics is traditionally confined to the United States and northern Europe where bitter winters make training outside difficult and competition virtually impossible.
