EOC says prize money offer to Olympic champions is discriminatory
The European Olympic Committee (EOC) is criticizing a decision by World Athletics to award cash prizes to track and field gold medalists at this year’s Olympic Games.
In April, World Athletics announced it had set aside 2.4 million U.S. dollars to financially reward athletes who win a gold medal in each of the 48 athletics events at the Games. Each winner will receive 50,000 U.S dollars in prize money. Silver and bronze medalists will start receiving cash awards in 2008.
“I think just giving some money to the gold winner is discriminatory and does not follow the principles of solidarity,” said EOC president Spyros Capralos.
“We believe in the Olympic Games, the athletes go there to compete for the values of the Olympic Games and their last preoccupation is to get money and bonuses,” Capralos added.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) also said it will award cash prizes to all Olympic champions and medallists of Paris 2024. Gold medalists will receive 100,000 U.S. dollars. Silver medalists will receive 50,000 U.S. dollars and bronze medalists will receive 25,000 U.S. dollars.
The decisions by World Athletics and the IBA caused uproar within the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international federations. They argued that those decisions were a direct interference in their event without any prior consultation.
Capralos suggested that there could be future discussions on the issue with World Athletics, but he clarified that there had been no discussions with the IBA.
The Olympic Games will run from July 26 to August 11 in Paris.
(Story compiled with input from Reuters)
