Track and field's governing body has, for the first time, decided that every gold medallist in its sport will receive a $50,000 award from the federation itself, a step that until now belonged to individual nations. The move has drawn two opposite objections: some see it as a betrayal of the Olympic ideal, while others find the sum meagre beside what athletes sacrifice and what countries like Singapore and China already pay. Read against the wider human habit of valuing excellence in coin, it shows how unsettled the question of what a champion is owed remains.
World Athletics' $50K Gold Bonus Draws Scrutiny as Several Nations Pay Far More Per Medal
Smaller economies are paying their gold medallists far more than the US.
Mark
Why does a $50,000 bonus cause an argument at all? It sounds like good news.
Mimi
Because it is new. Athletes have only ever been paid by their countries, and now the sport's own federation is paying gold medallists directly. Some athletes welcomed it. The Olympic body said it undermines the values of Olympism.
Mark
And the other complaint is that it's too small?
Mimi
Yes. The US pays $37,500 for gold, and China offers $720,000. Singapore pays $738,000 and Taiwan $716,000.
Luke
Careful with the framing, though. Those are per-medal figures from one article. It cites WUSA9 and Forbes but doesn't lay out how each country's payout is structured or whether the numbers cover all sports.
Mark
So the comparison may be looser than it looks?
Luke
Possibly. The piece also concludes that the US and World Athletics are underpaying. That is the writer's opinion, not a finding.
Mimi
The Hidilyn Diaz example shows the gap in another way. She got a house, a condo, a van and flights, and her total came to about $970,000.
Luke
Which shows that country-level rewards include far more than cash. It doesn't tell us what US athletes receive in sponsorships, so the comparison is incomplete.
Mark
What remains unknown?
Luke
Whether anyone will actually change the payouts. Nothing in the piece says they will.
Der Puls
- World Athletics' new $50,000 gold payment has split athletes and officials over whether it fits the spirit of the Games.
- The Olympic sports body has voiced sharp objections, warning the move undermines Olympic values.
- Critics argue the sum is undercompensation, pointing to the US payout of $37,500 and far larger rewards in Singapore, Taiwan and Bangladesh.
- The debate is settling into a question of effort versus reward, with the outcome still open until governing bodies revise their figures.
Track and field's governing body has, for the first time, decided that every gold medallist in its sport will receive a $50,000 award from the federation itself, a step that until now belonged to individual nations. The move has drawn two opposite objections: some see it as a betrayal of the Olympic ideal, while others find the sum meagre beside what athletes sacrifice and what countries like Singapore and China already pay. Read against the wider human habit of valuing excellence in coin, it shows how unsettled the question of what a champion is owed remains.
World Athletics has decided to pay $50,000 to every track and field gold medallist, the first time the sport's global federation has rewarded winners directly. Until now, prizes came only from individual countries. Supporters see a new source of income for athletes, while others feel uneasy about the change.
The Olympic sports body has been the sharpest critic, saying the move undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the Games. Others argue from the opposite direction: $50,000 is too little for people who give up much of their lives and their own money to train.
Comparisons with national payouts fuel that view. The United States pays $37,500 for gold, China $720,000, and Singapore $738,000. Several smaller economies, including Bangladesh with $300,000 and Kazakhstan with $250,000, also pay far more than the United States. Cash is not the only reward either: Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz received a house, a condominium, a van and flight tickets, bringing her total earnings to around $970,000.
The article concludes that both the US and World Athletics underpay their champions, and hopes rewards will eventually reflect the effort athletes put in. Since the comparisons come from one outlet's analysis, the next thing to watch is whether World Athletics or national federations revise their payouts, and how the Olympic body responds.
World Athletics has decided to pay $50,000 to every gold medallist in track and field, a first for the sport's governing body. Until now, athletes were rewarded by their own countries, with nothing coming from the federation that runs the sport worldwide. Supporters say the plan opens a new revenue stream for athletes. Others are uneasy about it.
The sharpest objection came from the Olympic sports body. As reported by CBS News, it said the move "undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the games." A separate line of criticism runs the other way: that $50,000 is too little. Athletes give up much of their ordinary lives to train and spend a great deal of their own money doing it, so critics see the sum as undercompensation.
The comparison with national payouts is what drives that argument. According to WUSA9, the United States pays $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. Forbes puts the US economy at roughly $27.97 trillion for 2024, the largest in the world. The article's figure is written as 27.97K billion, which is the same amount. China, second on that list at about $18.56 trillion, offers its gold medallists $720,000.
Some smaller economies pay even more. Singapore gives $738,000 for a gold medal and Taiwan gives $716,000. Neither country appears in Forbes's top 20 economies by GDP. The article treats this as evidence that wealth does not explain generosity toward athletes.
The list of countries paying well above both World Athletics and the US continues: Indonesia, Bangladesh, Italy, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hungary and Kosovo. Bangladesh pays $300,000 per gold and Kazakhstan $250,000. The article notes that, apart from Italy, all of these countries have less purchasing power than the United States.
Cash is also not the only reward. Hidilyn Diaz, the Filipino weightlifter who won her country's first Olympic gold in Tokyo, received a house, a condominium, a van and unlimited flight tickets on two airlines. Other individuals and companies added further gifts, and her total earnings came to around $970,000.
The article concludes that both the US and World Athletics are underpaying their gold medallists, and hopes governing bodies will eventually match rewards to the effort athletes put into training. The comparisons come from a single outlet's analysis, so the thing to watch is whether World Athletics or national federations change their figures, and how the Olympic body responds to the plan.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
It undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the games.— Olympic sports body, as reported by CBS News
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei Essentially Sports ↗
Business