This photograph taken on January 30, 2024 in Paris shows the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics gold medal … [+]
World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, cross country running, road running, race walking, mountain running and ultra running, announced that it would take the unprecedented step of rewarding gold medal winners at the Paris 2024 Games. It will become the first international federation to offer prize money at an Olympic Games.
The organization will pay out $2.4 million from the revenue share allocation it receives from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reward athletes across 48 track and field events, with $50,000 going to each gold medalist. Relay teams will also receive $50,000, to be split among the team.
The $50,000 figure is actually markedly less than the $70,000 gold medal winners receive at the World Athletics Championships.
Though only the 48 gold medal winners at Paris 2024 will receive the cash prize, World Athletics in a statement also shared a “firm commitment” to extend tiered prizes to Olympic silver and bronze medal winners at the LA 2028 Games.
In 2015, the federation pledged to invest all the money it received from the IOC back into its sports, including $5 million a year in Olympic dividend payments going to member federations (e.g., USA Track and Field). Its leadership views the landmark Olympic prize money announcement as an extension of that initiative.
“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,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.
Coe noted that 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,” World Athletics is motivated by ensuring some of the revenue generated by its athletes at the Olympics is returned directly to them.
World Athletics has an enormous presence at the Games; of the 10,500 athletes competing at Paris 2024, around 20% will compete in track and field events.
Coe did not make the IOC aware of the federation’s decision until shortly before the public announcement.
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC), in its discretion, can reward athletes with medal bonuses. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) awards gold medalists $37,500, silver medalists $22,500 and bronze medalists $15,000.
Those numbers are relatively modest in comparison to other delegations. At the Beijing 2022 Games, Hong Kong paid its gold medalists in an individual event a whopping $642,000. Ten other delegations also paid out six-figure prizes, with Turkey offering the second highest, at $383,000.
World Athletics’ move could place pressure on other international federations to offer medal bonuses to their athletes. Some argue this turns the Olympic Movement into a pay-for-play competition—what Pierre de Coubertin, who shaped the modern Olympic Games, called the “spirit of gain and professionalism”—or rewards only the elite athletes who already have significant sponsorship and endorsement deals.
When asked by reporters if the move was in response to the possibility of elite athletes opting not to compete in the Games, Coe said simply that he believed it was “the right thing to do.” To the possibility that other international federations will be pressured to follow suit, Coe stressed that he is only focused on World Athletics.
The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) continues to have discussions regarding its revenue allocations from the Paris Games.