By making this announcement, World Athletics marks a turning point in Olympic history. For the first time, an international federation will financially reward its athletes. In Paris, the international athletics federation will pay the sum of 50,000 dollars (around 46,000 euros) to the 48 gold medalists during the athletics events.
World Athletics introduces prize money for Olympic gold medallists at Paris 2024, and all medallists from LA28.
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) April 10, 2024
World Athletics also intends to extend these prize money for other medalists. Thus, it undertakes to pay sums to silver and bronze medalists from the Los Angeles Games in 2028 in arrangements which will be revealed later. For the president of the federation Sebastian Coe, this announcement is “a pivotal moment” which allows “all the money that World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games” to be reinvested in sport.
In its press release, the international federation specifies that for the relay events, the athletes will have to share these 50,000 dollars. In total, this operation represents a cost of 2.4 million dollars for World Athletics. “While it is impossible to put a market value on a place on an Olympic podium, (…) I think it is important that we start somewhere and ensure that a portion of the revenue generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games goes directly to those who make the Games the global spectacle that they are,” adds Sebastian Coe.
