Paris Olympic 2024: World Athletics announces $50,000 prize money to gold medallists at upcoming games

World Athletics, in a landmark decision, has decided to award monetary prize of $50,000 to gold medal winningathletes at the upcoming Paris Olympic 2024 games in track and field events. The organisation has set aside $2.4 million from the revenue share given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to become the first sporting body to reach the decision.

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

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“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."

The organisation also said that it will extend the prize money to sliver and bronze medal winning athletes from Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as well.

“We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our Member Federations, which saw us distribute an extra US$5m a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games," said the president.

Coe, however, agreed that a price can't be put on winning a gold medal at the Olympics, a changed world requires athletes to be paid for the efforts.

“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and 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,” he said.