Prize money for athletes at Paris Olympics not targeted at Michael Johnson says Coe

 Athletics has broken a 128-year Olympic tradition by becoming the first sport to offer prize money to gold medallists.

World Athletics president Seb Coe announced the landmark decision, which will see each athletics gold medallist at Paris 2024 receive $50,000 (£39,400).

Coe claims it is just a ‘continuation of the journey’ from when he was elected in 2015. And he has long been an advocate of the stars of the show being fairly rewarded.

However, it cannot be a coincidence that this news has come amid a string of top athletes — including USA’s Noah Lyles and Team GB’s Josh Kerr — complaining about the prize money at major events.

Is this all to stop Michael Johnson’s breakaway league?

Coe insists not. And in any case, it won’t stop it. Johnson’s new big-money series is more likely to threaten the Diamond League than the Olympics, which very few athletes would ever give up the chance to compete in.

The £1.9m prize pot is coming out of the money World Athletics automatically receives from the International Olympic Committee every four years.

Each Olympic sport receives a share of the IOC’s revenue, which was £6.5bn for the four years leading up to the Tokyo Games.

How will it change incomes for athletes? It won’t make a whole lot of difference. Not least because only the gold medallists will be rewarded in Paris.

The £39,400 prize is also less than the £55,700 given to gold medallists at last year’s World Championships.

Still, it is a nice bonus for those who compete in the less fashionable events and don’t earn as much from sponsorships.

Why are para-athletes not included?

World Athletics isn’t responsible for the para side of the sport. That is run by a separate governing body, World Para Athletics. There will be questions, though, about equality unless World Para Athletics follow suit.

Will any other sports leap on the bandwagon?

That is the million-dollar question.

It would be a surprise if athletes in other sports weren’t now pushing for prize money. However, most sports do not have as much cash to burn as athletics.

Coe shrugged off the suggestion that he had just opened Pandora’s box. But if he were to one day become IOC president, which is his ambition, then perhaps prize money would be offered across the board.