Paris Olympics 2024: World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe divides Olympic movement with move to offer winners prize money
- Coe upset some of his fellow federation bosses when he announced last week that track and field gold medallists would receive US$50,000
- What most annoyed Coe’s counterparts and the IOC was that he took the decision unilaterally and with little warning to them
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe’s decision to award prize money to Olympic gold medallists may have been welcomed by athletes, but the move has upset some of his fellow federation bosses and surprised seasoned observers of the Games.
Coe put the cat among the pigeons when he announced last week that track and field gold medallists at the Paris Games this year would receive US$50,000 (HK$392,000) – a first for a federation at an Olympics.
The total prize fund of US$2.4 million will come from the International Olympic Committee’s revenue share allocation that World Athletics receives every four years.
We will never know what Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, would have made of Coe making reality his great fear that a “spirit of gain and professionalism” would invade the Games, but it went down badly with some of the Briton’s peers.
David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), made clear his displeasure.