Baron Pierre De Coubertin said: “The important thing in life is not to triumph but to compete.”

That ethos sets the quadrennial Olympic Games apart from other competitions. Since the modern Olympic Games were launched in 1896 in Athens, the true Corinthian values of integrity, fairness, loyalty and endeavour have prevailed and it has been considered an adequate reward to present Olympic champions with a simple laurel wreath or a gold medal.

That has been the case as the Olympics evolved to include women competitors and eventually professional athletes, with compulsory amateur status being officially abandoned in the 1990s, but all that will change at Paris 2024 if Lord Sebastian Coe has his way.

As World Athletics president, Lord Coe announced that athletics gold medallists at Paris 2024 will receive $50,000 prize money – and from Los Angeles 2028 the rewards will be extended to silver and bronze medal winners – calling this decision: "a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole.”

The move has taken the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by surprise as no other sport has so far chosen to travel down this route and it has been widely reported that little or no notice was given to the IOC or any other sports federations.

So, has the Lord got the Baron spinning in his grave, or is Coe merely moving in an obvious direction in line with modern developments? The proposed prize of $50,000 for the pinnacle of sporting success is a relative token sum compared with elite sports competitions elsewhere and athletics federations have already been paying far larger bonuses to medal winners for many years.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is now discussing payments for British medal winners from 2028 but not at Paris 2024, although most GB Olympic medal prospects are receiving means-tested, tax-free Lottery funding of up to £25,000pa.

It is believed that around half of all the national federations will pay their athletes significant sums in recognition of any medal successes in Paris this summer so perhaps Lord Coe has got this right and it is time to move on from those laurel wreaths and medals.

After all, without the income generated through commercial sponsorship and TV coverage of those iconic Olympic moments created by the athletes, there would be no Olympic Games.

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