The prizes, which will also go to the winners of the marathon and race walk, come as the Olympic Games have shifted away from amateurism. Many medalists already earn bonuses from their home countries.
World Athletics, the governing body that oversees track and field competitions worldwide, will award $50,000 in prize money to gold medal winners at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
In doing so, the organization will become the first international federation to offer prize money directly to Olympic medalists, a landmark moment in the Olympic Games’ slow-but-sure shift away from amateurism.
In total, the World Athletics prize pot for 2024 will amount to $2.4 million for the 48 men’s and women’s athletics events, which include track and field competitions like the 100-meter run, pole vault and javelin, alongside road races such as the marathon and race walk. Relay teams of four will split the winnings with $12,500 apiece.
In Wednesday’s announcement, World Athletics also said it would pay prize money on a tiered basis to all medal winners in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with details to be announced closer to the event.
« While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is, » said Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics and a two-time Olympic gold medal runner.
