In these Olympic Games of Paris 2024 the planetary athletics will write a new history, it will mark a before and after with the announcement of Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, not only for establishing monetary prizes during the Olympics, but for overthrowing with a single action the 128 years of life of the games of the modern era, where the “Olympic spirit” was a phrase coined in all languages and passed on from generation to generation, fighting to preserve amateurism, because it was understood that this Olympic movement could unite the world without the self-interest generated by money and, at least, the competition was more valuable and idealistic.
Going back to past times and previous centuries could be an interesting part of this analysis, as well as confronting it with today’s reality, both exercises are legitimate and not exempt from antagonistic positions, some who defend the altruism of sport and others who understand that the professionalization of the activity has no traces of what was conceived in the past.
50,000 DOLLARS FOR GOLD
I wonder: why Sebastian Coe breaks the schemes and announces financial prizes to the gold medalists in athletics at the Paris Olympics? There are several theses that arise, from reinvesting the money raised by the IOC in the athletes, to giving them the prominence they deserve. An interesting fact that we put on the table: World Athletics is the international federation that receives more economic resources directly from the Olympics, an amount exceeding 34 million dollars, according to data provided by the Finance Department of the IOC post Tokyo 2020+1. The investment in prizes for the 48 gold medalists in Paris 2024 is estimated at 2,400,000 dollars, a tiny or low amount if we consider the leading role played by the athletes in this sport, each one will receive 50,000 dollars, a not insignificant figure, but are the athletes considered as the center of the equation with this contribution every four years?
Tara Davis-Woodhall from the USA. (MI News/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
I continue to ponder. The professionalization of athletes in general has existed for a long time, in the primary stage, perhaps empirically, but when they discover their talents and make them available for high performance they are measured as professionals. We demand results from them without sustained economic support over time, only if they perform. We bet on them, if there are marks that allow us to project them as potential medalists. Professional experts in high performance point out that to obtain a medal or make the podium, at least two Olympic cycles are needed and the investment to fulfill these objectives does not go below 2 million dollars per medal, sorry, considering that it comes at the ‘peak’ moment of their sporting career.
HIS LIFE FOR THE DREAM OF A COUNTRY
For the same reason, the irruption of Sebastian Coe to extend the prizes for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games to all medalists goes in the right direction. First, because he dared, he took the first step, he made transparent that the real actors and protagonists are in the places of competition, they are formed at an early age, for a matter of teaching and training we tell them that sport is the best tool to face life, we make them aware so that they compete for their country, that they see the flag flying, that they are examples of life for other young people … However, do we really empathize with their reality to train, prepare and compete? Honestly, I don’t think so.
We are indebted to the athletes of the world, to those who arrive and to those who stay on the way, many of them postpone studies and also work and, in spite of all these vicissitudes, they are anonymous heroes, they are examples of life. On the other hand, athletes generate thousands of formal jobs to other professionals inherent to the activity, they allow sports organizations and the sports industry to live from their actions. Modern times by their very definition produce changes, the games of the modern era remained as a faint memory of competing for the honor and values that surround the Olympics of yesteryear.
I would like to quote a reflection from Sebastian Coe, President of WA that makes a lot of sense to this SportsIn editorial “While it is impossible to assign a commercial value to winning an Olympic medal, or to the commitment and focus it takes to even represent a country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important that we start somewhere and make sure that some of the revenue generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games goes directly back to those who make the Games the global spectacle that they are,” he added.
With this intervention, he opened the door to value his own athletes and will be the spearhead for other international federations to follow his path. A path with no turning back. It will be the occasion to rethink several existential issues, many of them acquired by time and that today should be universal rights. Where sports leaders are able to transfer their management and leadership to these athletes, where conditions are similar for all, where the sale of television and broadcasting rights of the main events in the world have a distribution and sharing of the resources generated by the IOC and the international federations reach the athletes in a proportional way. I insist, the quality of the show depends on how much we invest in the athletes.
Athletics jumped the first hurdle, left behind more than a century of history, broke the paradigms of conservative leaders and gave an unmistakable signal to correct the injustices committed against athletes. Today they are more eager for solutions and concrete actions, the long time of waiting is over.
