Olympics
U.S. athletes praise Paris Games prize money plan
World Athletics’ (WA) plan to offer prize money to Olympic gold medallists is a much needed step in the right direction, said American track and field athletes, with the high costs of training and competition weighing on competitors.
WA President Sebastian Coe bucked 128 years of tradition when he said last week that the athletics governing body would pay gold medal winners in Paris $50,000, a move that athletes were quick to endorse.
“You can lose money in track and field as soon as you step out the door,” Tara Davis-Woodhall, the indoor world champion in long jump, told reporters this week at the Team USA Media Summit in New York.
Davis-Woodhall said even travelling to competitions presents a major financial burden for many athletes.
“If I don’t have a sponsorship, who’s going to pay for this? I’m going to go in debt like 100%,” said Davis-Woodhall, who won a silver medal at the 2023 world championships in Budapest. “It’s not a sustainable thing to do at all.”
Under the WA plan, a $2.4 million prize pot will be split between the 48 athletics gold medallists at the Paris Games, which start on July 26.
Silver and bronze medal winners will also receive prize funds beginning at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“It’s about time,” said Olympic 200 metres silver medallist Kenny Bednarek. “You have athletes that work their butt off, blood, sweat and tears every single day, every single year. And, you know, some compensation is needed for them.”
Their remarks echoed the endorsement of United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) CEO Sarah Hirshland, who applauded the plan.
“Any time we can put resources in the hands of athletes, we should all celebrate,” Hirshland told reporters in New York on Monday.
“We need more resources to get into the hands of athletes, so that they have both the ability to sustain themselves from a just day-to-day lifestyle perspective, but then also (to) continue to invest in their training.”
But the prize money plan has attracted plenty of criticism from other corners of international sport.
British Olympic Association chief Andy Anson told Sky Sports on Wednesday that World Athletics created a problem by moving unilaterally on the issue.
The head of cycling’s global governing body said on Tuesday that WA had gone against the Olympic spirit, while World Rowing head Jean-Christophe Rolland said he wished WA had discussion with other sports, saying the decision has “other implications.”
Twice Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser said he struggles to see how anyone could oppose the prize money.
“I know athletes that have medalled at world championships are still working two jobs and living with a room mate,” the world record holder said.
“It’s just the misconception that kind of lingers that athletes, regardless of what level you’re at, if you’re making the Olympics, that you’re that you’re financially secure and you are absolutely not.”
-Reuters
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
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Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
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