Olympics Continue Athletic Compensation Conversation, Georgia Tech Expert Says

Olympians compete for national pride, glory, and, for the first time, prize money.  

Announced by World Athletics in April, a $2.4 million pot will be split among the 48 track and field gold medal winners at the upcoming games — $50,000 for each athlete or team — marking the first time an international sport federation will award prize money at the Olympic Games. The move is a continued departure from the amateurism model implemented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, in 1896.    

Mary McDonald, professor and Homer C. Rice Chair in Sports and Society, explains that governments provided various levels of financial support to athletes throughout the 20th century, although undisclosed compensation from sponsors gave rise to “shamateurism” as the International Olympic Committee upheld its traditional policy. She says allowing professional athletes to compete in the Games in 1992 and the commercialization of the global event led to this compensation model.   

“The U.S. ‘Dream Team’ competed in Barcelona to widespread media attention, allaying longstanding mythologies that somehow including professionals would taint the Olympic spirit of sport,” McDonald said. “But fans around the globe were interested in seeing the top athletes in each sport, and allowing professional athletes to compete met this demand. Organizers of the multibillion-dollar Olympic and Paralympic Games recognized that athletes are the driving force behind this global spectacle.”  

In the absence of payments from international federations, medalists have been paid prize money to varying degrees by national Olympic committees or national governments. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee pays $37,500 for gold medals, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze, while Singapore pays individual gold medalists up to $1 million. The World Athletics’ $50,000 payout for gold medals pales in comparison to the millions of dollars in endorsement deals earned by Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, and other notable Olympians, but it opens a dialogue surrounding pay inequities for the additional 10,000 competitors.  

“One issue this debate helps to highlight is that inequalities exist between sports federations and national Olympic committees. Many athletes in less visible Olympic sports, even if provided with stipends, still financially struggle to train and compete,” McDonald said, noting that some athletes have resorted to crowdfunding to support their Olympic pursuits.  

“Still, new compensation opportunities through federation support serve important purposes. This strategy helps to more fully recognize the value of athletic labor, offering a new way of redistributing more of the revenues generated by the athletes back to the athletes,” she said.    

The new system is not a finished product. World Athletics plans to extend the prize money, at a tiered level, to silver and bronze medalists at the 2028 Summer Olympics.   

McDonald sees symmetry between this and the recent softening of traditional amateurism models, such as college athletics following the adoption of NCAA name, image, and likeness policies following court rulings and state legislative actions. She adds that, as efforts continue to create fair compensation models in professional leagues like the WNBA, the Olympics have provided a “visible and global stage to inspire and empower athletes in their quest to better share in the revenues they have helped to produce.”