Prize money ‘critical’ for athletics, says Coe
It is fair to say that Sebastian Coe’s ground-breaking move to award prize money to track and field gold medallists at the 2024 Paris Olympics ruffled some feathers. Two years ago, World Athletics announced that winners in the French capital would each receive $50 000, the governing body becoming the first international federation to introduce […] The post Prize money ‘critical’ for athletics, says Coe appeared first on The Namibian .
It is fair to say that Sebastian Coe’s ground-breaking move to award prize money to track and field gold medallists at the 2024 Paris Olympics ruffled some feathers.
Two years ago, World Athletics announced that winners in the French capital would each receive $50 000, the governing body becoming the first international federation to introduce such prize money.
The unilateral decision sparked a backlash.
Although the move was widely welcomed by athletes, the hierarchy of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other federation chiefs argued that it broke with the tradition of the Olympic spirit.
“Prize money for the Olympics is probably why I’m sitting here talking to you and not in (IOC headquarters in) Lausanne,” Coe joked Friday.
