Coe defends Olympic payday
Lord Coe is adamant World Athletics is not diverging from the spirit of the Olympics by becoming the first sport in the 128-year history of the Games to offer prizemoney for a gold medal.
Winners in the 48 athletics events in Paris this summer will each receive NZ$83,500 (£39,800) from the sport’s governing body and Coe, the World Athletics president, has guaranteed that this offering will be increased to also include silver and bronze medallists by the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
While some national federations and sponsors have long offered bonuses to individual athletes for Olympic glory, it is the first time since the founding of the modern Games in 1896 that a gold medal will automatically come with a monetary prize.
World Athletics will do this by allocating NZ$4 million of the broadcast revenue it receives from the International Olympic Committee as part of each four-year cycle.
“This fits very much with a contemporary template that we should do everything we can to recognise the performance and primacy of athletes,” said Coe. “As a president who was a double Olympic champion, the largest part of my life has been involved with the Olympic movement. The world has changed.
“I don’t believe this is at variance with any deeply held philosophical commitment to the Olympic movement which, as a sport, we clearly have.
“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 are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.
“It’s really important that where possible we create a sport that is financially viable for our competitors. If I thought athletes were only competing for a financial pot, I might take a different view.”
Rob Koehler, director-general of the athlete body Global Athlete, said of the move: “Kudos to Seb Coe and World Athletics for breaking the outdated status quo to compensate athletes.’’
With Coe widely perceived as a leading contender to replace Thomas Bach as president of the IOC next year, the move will reverberate through the Olympic headquarters in Lausanne and place pressure on other governing bodies to follow athletics’ lead.
Coe, who won 1500m gold in 1980 and 1984 before leading London’s 2012 Olympic bid, said he had not personally consulted the IOC before taking the decision.
“I’m hoping they would welcome that,” he said. “The IOC have been very clear that, where possible, they have redirected their own revenues back into Olympic sport and particularly the athletes. We’re pretty much following the same principle. Other federations will make a judgment about priorities.” – Telegraph Group