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Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the Men's 100m Final and the gold medal at the National Stadium on Day 8 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, China. Photo / Getty

World Athletics first to pay Olympic gold medallists for their wins

Author: Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2024, 3:12PM

Track and Field has become the first sport to pay athletes for their Olympic gold medals.

World Athletics, the governing body that oversees worldwide track and field events, will be awarding $50,000 in prize money to gold medalists are the 2024 Paris Olympics.

They’ve set aside a total of $2.4 million to go to medalists across the 48 men’s, women’s, and mixed events, with relay teams splitting the $50,000 amongst themselves.

Long serving member and former Vice President of the IOC, Dick Pound, told Jason Pine that with a leading sport like athletics going in this direction, it’s likely other prominent sports will start to face pressure to do something similar.

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