Prize money could lead to 'elitist Olympics'

Offering prize money at the Olympic Games was unfair and was shown at the Paris Games to favour a small number of elite athletes to the detriment of others, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Dec 3.

In a taboo-busting move that sparked hugely mixed reactions, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe announced prize money of US$50,000 (S$67,000) for every track and field winner in Paris.

No other sports federation paid prize money at the Olympics.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the IOC's executive board had discussed the topic of prize money distribution, raised by international federations and athletes' representatives, on the first day of a meeting in Lausanne.

"There was a large amount of agreement on the topic, I might even say, unanimity," he said. "It was a question of principle, efficiency and distribution within the Olympic movement. The biggest argument is one of fairness."