Prize money goes against Games spirit — UCI chief
ANCIENT OLYMPIA: The decision by World Athletics to award prize money at the Paris 2024 Games goes against the Olympic spirit and solidarity among international federations, the head of cycling’s global governing body (UCI) said on Tuesday.
Athletics became the first sport to offer prize money to Olympic champions when WA President Sebastian Coe announced last week that gold medallists in Paris will each earn US$50,000.
The decision took other international federations by surprise.
“We really believe that this is not the Olympic spirit,” UCI president David Lappartient told reporters on the sidelines of the Paris Olympics torch lighting ceremony.
“The proposal [by World Athletics] was not discussed. It was [announced] on the day of our mother organisation’s meeting. It should have been on the agenda,” he added.
“The Olympic spirit is to share revenues and have more athletes compete worldwide. Not only put all the money on the top athletes but spread the money.
“If we concentrate money on top athletes, a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world.”
The announcement by WA was met with a positive reaction from the world’s leading athletes, with the $2.4 million prize pot to be split among the 48 gold medallists in Paris.
A total of $540 million was allocated to the 28 sports at the previous Games in Tokyo with World Athletics receiving the most at $40 million.
“We need to ensure we will have athletes tomorrow,” said Jean-Christophe Rolland, who heads World Rowing.
“I fully respect the WA decision as long it concerns athletes from their sport but at the Olympic Games it is not about your sport but all sports,” he said.
“I would appreciate if we had the discussion between us. This decision impacts not only athletes. It has other implications.”
Lappartient and Rolland are not the first ones to be critical of the move, with Britain’s five-time Olympic rowing champion Steve Redgrave calling it an unfair decision to other sports that cannot afford to do the same.
100 DAYS TO PARIS 2024
The Eiffel Tower’s countdown clock to the Paris 2024 Olympics turned to 100 days on Tuesday as preparations for the Games entered the final straight.
The Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia earlier in the day. It will reach France on May 8 in the port city of Marseille, after a journey on the threemasted Belem ship.
All permanent infrastructures for the Games are now ready, and the building of temporary sites has started in Paris, notably on the Place de la Concorde.
Organisers will count on the flame relay across France for the mood to swing in the country as the July 26-Aug 11 Games approach.
Last month, a poll showed that, in France, 57% of people felt little or no enthusiasm for the Paris Games.
Paris 2024 posters were displayed in metro stations on Tuesday and some landmark monuments paid tribute to the upcoming Games, while the stairs leading up to the Sacre Coeur basilica were being painted with the Games’ colours.