Ahead of the Paris Olympics, the World Athletics has made a historic announcement. A month back, President Sebastian Coe made it public that track and field participants, winning gold at the Paris Olympics 2024 will receive a handsome amount of $50,000. Well, such an announcement meant that names like Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles might look to take home some extra cash.

But sadly, the same cannot be said about the Paralympic athletes, who will be competing in the track and field discipline. A renowned figure from the realm of Para sports further simplified the concept. 

Stefanie Reid breaks down the financial situation for the Paralympians

Stefanie Reid is a well-known face in the realm of Para Olympics. Competing in the T44 class from Canada, Reid won bronze at the 2008 games in Beijing. In a recent bid to clear the air surrounding the confusion regarding World Athletics’ announcements, Reid gave a detailed explanation on her social media. The athlete uploaded a video on her official Instagram account. 

The 39-year-old stated, “World Athletics is funding the prize money from their share of the International Olympic Committee revenues but the IOC isn’t responsible for para sports. And while they are friends with the IPC, they are separate organizations with separate budgets.” Paralympians like Reid are governed by the International Paralympic Committee or the IPC.

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Further, the sanctioning of any financial rewards would be the responsibility of the World Para Athletics. But there’s a huge disparity in the budget of both the governing bodies. The IOC earned a whopping $2.4 billion in revenue in 2022. On the flip side, the IPC only managed a meager 24 million euros, which was only one percent of the IOC’s funds.

And while the para-athletes might have to wait a bit more for the sun to shine upon them, other disciplines of the sport are also plagued with monetary issues. And this was highlighted and advocated by none other than Sha’Carri Richardson. 

Sha’Carri Richardson advocates for fair pay

Sha’Carri Richardson feels that the current situation for track and field athletes in the USA is pretty gloomy. She has been actively bringing forward other athletes’ financial struggles to try and improve the payment scenario drastically. Reflecting on the same, Richardson stated, “Track&Field is not like other sports, especially in America… The NBA, NFL have organizations to HELP their athletes, not exploit them. Y’all have no idea how many track athletes that don’t even have a base salary, there are some athletes that literally sign contracts for CLOTHES!” 

Back in December 2023, Sha’Carri Richardson even took a dig at Team USA. Accusing them of underpayment, Richardson blasted the organization for not giving the athletes their allocated funds. Thus, with the controversy regarding fair pay escalating each day, it remains to be seen whether measures to pacify it are taken or not ahead of Paris 2024.