Olympics drug cheats 'given extra incentive' after competitor sent gold medal in the post
An Olympic medalist has hit out at the Games' chiefs.
Team GB icon Jamie Baulch has blasted a drastic change at this year’s Olympics, which sees winning track-and-field athletes given a cash prize for their success in Paris.
World Athletics supremo Lord Seb Coe announced that £40,000 bonuses will go alongside gold medals. There are no such rewards for silver or bronze medalists in the French capital, though plans are in motion to do so in time for the LA 2028 Olympics.
The International Boxing Association will also reward its gold medal winners with £77k.
It is the first time since the Games’ inception in 1896 that athletes will be paid by a sport’s governing body, with former Welsh 400m star Baulch incensed that Coe has decided on financial rewards.
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Baulch has explained that he worries about the potential for rising numbers of drug cheats in the sport, having been awarded his silver medal 13 years late when USA athlete Antonia Pettigrew admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs at the 1997 Games in Atlanta.
He told The Mirror: “Why are you are giving drug cheats a further incentive? I’ve been upgraded twice - for the World Championships and then the World Indoors.
“I remember I had a lovely presentation to honour my achievement. But it was a hollow feeling - you still feel cheated. Roger Black even received his gold medal, which wasn’t even a replica version, in the post!
“Anyone who takes drugs should never compete again. One strike and out. End of story.”
Discovery+ is the new home of the Olympics. The streamer is set to broadcast 3,800 hours of sport live from Paris.
Sports fans can get Discovery+ for £3.99 a month until the end of 2024 via Amazon Prime's video channels. This also comes with an Amazon Prime 30-day free trial.
Baulch feels that the prestige of competing, and winning, at the Olympics should trump any financial reward.
“You dream of winning a gold medal - not money,” he added. “It’s the Olympics, the pinnacle for a track and field athlete, but you’re putting a price on a gold. It certainly won’t make Dina Asher-Smith for example run any quicker.
“Lucrative endorsement and sponsorship deals for winning at the Olympics would dwarf the money on offer anyhow. And I’m not sure how well this sits with the athletes from other events. I’d be pretty annoyed and it really doesn’t help relations. This is what they will be talking about in the camps.”
Gold medal winners will only be eligible to take home £40k once they pass the anti-doping procedures, but Baulch recounted a conversation with now-Wales football head coach Craig Bellamy at the London Games that reinforced his position even further.
“I remember speaking to Craig Bellamy ahead of London 2012 and he was so excited at competing,” he explained.
“This was a footballer who had played on the biggest stages. Yet the prospect of being part of the Olympics was all that mattered to him - not the pay cheque.”
