PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Athletics is handing out prize money at the Olympics this summer.
A message that swimming star Sarah Sjöström welcomes.
– It’s cool to see that athletics is showing that progress. I think swimming will follow, says Sjöström.
Last week it was announced that the International Association of Athletics Federations will award prize money of 50,000 dollars, equivalent to approximately 550,000 kroner, to the gold medalists in their sport in Paris this summer.
Athletics thus becomes the first sport to award prize money to its gold medalists in the Olympics. The money comes from the income that the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, distributes to the various Olympic sports.
– There are quite a few who come there to see these people who win medals. It is better that that money goes to the athletes who are the face of the sport, says Sarah Sjostrom.
“Forced to start”
The International Swimming Federation discussed, according to the news agency AP, already before Tokyo 2021 to start handing out prize money in the Olympics, but in the end decided to instead invest that money in increasing the prize pool in the WC.
– I think swimming will follow. Someone had to start. So I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens, maybe not this Olympics but in the future, says Sjöström.
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She won double WC gold in Doha in February and received a total of 40,000 dollars, equivalent to around 440,000 kroner at the time. Last year in Japan, when she won double gold and broke the world record, roughly 750,000 kroner.
“Olympic gold worth more”
Sarah Sjöström said in an interview in Dagens Nyheter before the Olympics in Tokyo that it was not a given for her to swim in the Olympics in the future precisely in view of the lack of prize money. Something she received some criticism for.
At the time, the money-spinning ISL, International Swimming League, was on the cards and over three seasons the super Swede swam a total of just over 6 million kroner in prize money.
But that series – created by the Russian-Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigoryshin – has been suspended since 2022 when Russia’s war of invasion against Ukraine began.
– Everything changes all the time. The Olympics are something else and if you are at an Olympics, the money is not the motivation, but a bonus. The Olympic gold is worth more to most people, says Sjöström, Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter butterfly in 2016 and gold favorite in Paris in the 50-meter freestyle.
READ MORE: Armand Duplanti’s completely honest words before this summer’s Olympics – reveals his unexpected goal: “Of course I want to…”
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