Olympic gold is great, but athletes say some cash to go with it is even better

NEW YORK (AP) — They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.

After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organizing the event — track and field athletes at the Paris Games will join that money-making club thanks to the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

In a first-of-its-kind development, the runners, throwers and jumpers lining up at the Stade de France in August will be trying to win a $50,000 check to go with the gold. It’s a novel — some might say overdue — concept that has athletes in other sports wondering if they can get a piece of that action.

“I mean, who would want to turn down money, you know?” said artistic swimmer Daniella Ramirez, who is a junior at UCLA.

The news last week grabbed attention, not so much because anyone is going to get rich, but because it marked the first instance of someone in charge — someone running the show — dipping into their coffers for the prizes, something the International Olympic Committee continues to resist.

That hasn’t stopped individual countries from paying medal winners across all sports for years. For instance, the U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee runs “Project Gold,” which doles out $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.

And this year’s host country will give France’s gold medalists around $85,000 apiece.

Those kinds of payments, along with the endorsement deals that have become commonplace for the upper-echelon sports, long ago undercut the old notion the Olympics were founded upon: That athletes should be true amateurs playing strictly for the love of sport.

That has been a relic for at least 40 years.

Not surprisingly, athletes at the Team USA media summit this week in New York followed the latest development with interest.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m jealous,” said diver Andrew Capobianco, a silver medalist three years ago in Tokyo. “But I’m hopeful that, kind of, can move into all other sports, as well — that they’re the trailblazers for that. More money for Olympic athletes, especially the smaller sports, would be great.”

This also has attracted the attention of the leaders in some of those sports. While World Athletics president Sebastian Coe portrayed the move as one of simple fairness — the Olympics are a multibillion-dollar business; the athletes should get their share — some in his world see it as a calculated play to boost his profile for a potential IOC presidency bid.

Speaking at the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia on Tuesday, the president of cycling’s international federation criticized Coe for dropping…