Prize pool: Olympic cash debate swirls ahead of trials

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has added her voice to growing calls for Olympic prize money, believing athletes are missing out on what they financially deserve.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry lit a fuse just days after the controversial Enhanced Games were staged last month, declaring she didn’t believe in awarding cash bonuses for medals.

The pro-doping Enhanced Games had offered a total prize pool of US$25 million, dangling carrots of $US250,000 for event winners and a $US1 million bonus for breaking official world records.

While winners of Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals aren’t financially compensated by the IOC, some member nations have incentive programs.

Through the Australian Olympic Committee’s medal incentive fund, athletes can earn $20,000 for winning gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.

Australia’s 50m freestyle world record holder Cam McEvoy led the pushback against former swimmer Coventry’s comments, saying they could not have come “at a more inopportune time” given the Enhanced Games frenzy.

“Everybody can acknowledge that with the cost of living, everybody wants a pay rise,” Jack said on Friday.

“We continue to be grateful for (our funding), but we also want to ensure that athletes are getting what they do deserve.

“Cam has some great points about how we can potentially gain shares in the future of swimming and the future of sport.

“For me, that’s really important to be backing him and supporting him as an athlete as well.”

While Australian swimmers who break a world record at an Olympics or Commonwealth Games earn a bonus funded by the sport’s benefactor Gina Rinehart, McEvoy did not receive prize money for his world record swim as it was achieved at the China Open.

Paris Olympic gold medallists Jack and McEvoy will be in action at next week’s high-stakes trials in Sydney, where the six-day meet will decide who makes the cut for this year’s Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships.

Jack, who served a two-year ban for failing an out-of-competition drug test in 2019, wouldn’t be drawn on the Enhanced Games.

After an investigation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found an accident had led Jack to ingest a banned substance.

The Enhanced Games have been largely panned around the world. Several clean athletes won events, while Australian James Magnussen finished last in the 100m freestyle despite undergoing a supervised doping routine.

“I will be putting the Enhanced Games behind me,” Jack said ahead of the national trials, which begin at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday.

“For me, it’s focusing on this week and trying to enjoy what I’ve done, all the hard work I’ve put in.

“I’m a clean athlete. We all represent clean athletes, and that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on.”