$50,000 for gold: Discordant tunes over cash reward for Olympics athletes

Tobi Amusan. Photo: AFP

The World Athletics’ decision to reward each gold medallist at the forthcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games with $50,000 has generated mixed reactions from the sporting world. GOWON AKPODONOR writes that while the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and some stakeholders are opposed to the move, others believe that it would bring out the best in athletes. 

When innovation meets time-tested tradition, what gives? What impact would the recent World Athletics’ decision to reward every gold medal at the Paris Olympics Games with $50,000 have on the amateur status of the Games?

These posers and many others perhaps prompted stakeholders in world sports to rise up against what they believe will bastardise their sector and lead many to adopt unsavoury means to win gold medals at the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza.

World Athletics (WA) the international athletics ruling body’s recent announcement that it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris, made it the first sport to introduce cash prizes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Additionally, WA said relay teams would be granted $50,000 as a collective, to be divided among their members.

President of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe’s announcement is a symbolic break with the amateur past of the Olympic Games in one of the most important events.

Although amateurism, in its real sense, has become a thing of the past as superstars with multi-million dollar contracts have competed in the Games for decades, Coe’s idea is seen by many as taking liberty too far, as, according to some, it would lead to unfair competition and also make it impossible for fair competition.

One of the earliest opposition to the plan came from none other than the International Olympic