Athletics prize money model is not one-size-fits-all for all sports, says IOC candidate Coe

Record ID: 1983531

  • Title: Athletics prize money model is not one-size-fits-all for all sports, says IOC candidate Coe
  • Date: 14th March 2025
  • Summary: MONACO (MARCH 14, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANDIDATE FOR IOC PRESIDENT, WORLD ATHLETICS CHIEF AND FORMER OLYMPIC CHAMPION, SEBASTIAN COE, SAYING: “Prize money was implemented by the sport in response to a very specific issue in track and field. And that is that our athletes have very transferable skills and they were being recruited from other sports. And we h
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  • Keywords: IOC International Olympic Committee Olympics Sebastian Coe prize money
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Monaco
  • Topics: Europe,Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001896614032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: World Athletics' decision to start offering prize money to Olympic champions should not be seen as a template for all other sports, the body's chief, Sebastian Coe, who is running for president of the International Olympic Committee, said on Friday (March 14).
    Coe, a former Olympic champion who also led the 2012 London Olympics, is one of seven candidates campaigning to replace outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach, with the vote set for March 20 at the body's session in Greece.
    World Athletics announced its decision to award prize money to gold medallists unilaterally ahead of last year's Paris Games without consultation with the IOC, of which Coe is a member, or other international sports federations.
    The decision angered the IOC and some federations at the time, which opposed such a move, saying not all athletes were benefiting from it. World Athletics has said it will offer prize money to all medallists in the sport at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
    The Briton, however, said should he win the election next week, he would not enforce such a model for other sports.
    Coe is up against multiple-Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry, who is Zimbabwe's sports minister, as well as Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president.
    International cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, International Gymnastics Federation head Morinari Watanabe and Olympic newcomer and multimillionaire Johan Eliasch, who heads the International Ski Federation, complete the candidates' lineup.
    (Production: Kurt Michael Hall, Iain Axon, Karolos Grohmann)
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