Swimming & Gymnastics Gain Olympic Revenue Lift

Swimming and gymnastics will receive a significant increase in revenue after the IOC executive board promoted the sports to the top tier of their revenue-sharing ranking.

The move signals the start of splitting money ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and swimming and gymnastics now sit alongside track and field in the top bracket.

Before this, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was alone in the highest of four ranks; now there are five.

IAAF President Lamine Diack made it clear that he believed athletics was the main Olympic sport and should still receive the most money.

Diack said: “Aquatics is a nice sport. Gymnastics is a nice sport, but you cannot compare with athletics.

“We are the only sport which makes the games universal. We filled the stadium in London for nine days.

“The games in Rio will start when the athletics starts. The sport that will make the games special is athletics.”

The IAAF received approximately $45m from the total $520m that was shared from London 2012 and the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), who will split the money, has confirmed athletics will receive less than before.

ASOIF director general Andrew Ryan commented: “The IAAF will get less money than in the past.

“The groups are very important, but we don’t know yet how the calculations will work for Rio.”

One of the biggest losers in the new scheme was modern pentathlon, who dropped down into the bottom group, Group E.

Group A

Athletics, swimming and gymnastics

Group B

Basketball, cycling, football, tennis and volleyball.

Group C

Archery, badminton, boxing, judo, rowing, shooting, table tennis and weightlifting.

Group D

Canoe/kayaking, equestrian, fencing, handball, field hockey, sailing, taekwondo, triathlon and wrestling.

Group E

Modern pentathlon, golf and rugby

{jcomments on}