Olympic movement divided over prize money
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.
Coe put the cat among the pigeons when he announced last week that track and field gold medallists at the Paris Games this year will receive $50 000 (R920 000), a first for a federation at an Olympics. The total prize fund of $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 realising 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, made clear his displeasure. “If we concentrate money on top athletes, a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world,” the Frenchman said.
It was not just the offering of prize money that annoyed Coe’s fellow federation chiefs and the IOC.
“What surprised everybody is that Coe took the decision unilaterally with one hours’ warning to the IOC and zero hours warning to other federations,” Michael Payne, a former IOC marketing director, claimed.
“The view of the federations, not unreasonably, is that they have been thrown under a bus. What are you going to do only three months before Paris?” Payne said.
The International Tennis Federation said it had no plans to unilaterally follow suit and pay prize money.
Coe has defended his move, declaring the image of the amateur athlete to be obsolete. “I’m probably the last generation to have been on the 75-pence meal voucher and a second-class rail ticket when competing for my own country,” he said.
“We’re now operating on a completely different planet ... so it is very important that the sport recognises that change in landscape.” |