World Athletics will award $2.4 million in prize money across 48 events and grant Olympic gold medalists $50,000.

Here’s what you need to know:

– World Athletics becomes the first international federation to award prize money at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee does not award prize money to athletes but offers funding to international federations and national Olympic committees. The prize purse for Paris will come from the Olympic revenue that the IOC distributes to World Athletics.

– The international federation is also planning to extend its prize money structure to the Olympic silver and bronze medalists starting at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The format and distribution will be announced at a later date.

– The payment of the prize money will depend on World Athletics’ ratification process, which includes athletes undergoing drug testing.

What World Athletics President Seb Coe Had To Say:

“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport. We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our Member Federations, which saw us distribute an extra US$5m a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games. While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

Statement from the IOC:

“The IOC redistributes 90 percent of all its income, in particular to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs). This means that, every day, the equivalent of $4.2 million goes to help athletes and sports organizations at all levels around the world. It is up to each IF and NOC to determine how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport.”