Sebastian Coe defends his decision of awarding athletes prize money at Paris Olympics

World Athletics (WA) president Sebastian Coe, has defended his decision to offer prize money to Paris 2024 Olympic champions, moments before he presented his bid to run for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency.

Coe was put to task on Thursday (30) by IOC members on why he announced the prize money decision unilaterally ahead of last year’s Paris Games without consulting either the IOC, of which he is a member, or other international sports federations.

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The move angered the IOC and some federations which opposed such a move, saying not all athletes were benefiting from it. WA has said it will offer prize money to all medalists in the sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“We made the judgment about prize money because we felt it was in the best interest of our sport,” Coe told an online media round table. “In hindsight, I should have done it differently, and I am ready to hold my hands up.

Coe was speaking hours ahead of Thursday’s 15-minute presentation of each presidential candidate to IOC members in Lausanne. The Olympic body will elect its new president will vote for the next IOC president in Greece on March 20, 2025.

Coe will face of  with the current IOC vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose father of the same name served as IOC president between 1980 and 2001, is considered the favorite.

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Other contestants include former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry who is thought to be Thomas Bach’s preferred candidate, David Lappartient, from Cycling International Federation the UCI, International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) president Morinari Watanabe.

Also in contention is International Ski Federation (ISF) president, Johan Eliasch, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, who has been an IOC member for the last fifteen years.

Coe said if elected he would involve members more and not just within the powerful executive board. Under current president Thomas Bach it is the executive board which takes most key decisions, with the members all but rubber-stamping them.