Winners in the 48 track and field events at the Paris Games will take home around £39,000 – but relay teams will split the prize between them. Payments for silver and bronze medallists are planned to start at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Athletics will become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics this summer.
World Athletics, the international athletics federation, says it will pay Olympic gold medal winners $50,000 (around £39,400) at the Paris games.
The athletics governing body said it is setting aside $2.4m (£1.89m) to pay the gold medallists across 48 events at Paris’ track and field programme.
Relay teams will split the $50,000 between their members.
Payments for silver and bronze medallists are planned to begin at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games.
“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport.”
He added: “While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Coe added that he wanted athletes “to recognise that I see a very clear correlation between me announcing the new partners, the Sony’s, the Deloitte’s, the Morinaga’s that come to the table and the fact that they are able to benefit from the proceeds of the growth of the sport”.
He also said he does not think prize money “remotely” ruins the ethos of the Olympics, saying “rather than have the athletes as the first thought and the last consideration, and singing a good song about how important they are, that needs to be reflected”.
“This prize money I see as a raft of funds that we are making available within the sport that may actually allow those athletes to remain in the sport for another four years,” he added.
“And look, not everybody is going to win an Olympic title at 100 metres or 1,500 metres, but we’ve got 48 disciplines, and this will help the athletes.”