Maria Mutola, Justin Gatlin Are Top Prize Money Winners

More than $26 million (USD) in prize money and bonuses was awarded in track & field competitions in 2003, the second annual prize money survey by The Track Profile News Service revealed.

800m world champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique, who in September became the first sole winner of the IAAF Golden League $1 million dollar jackpot, earned at least $1,330,624 in prize money in 2003. US sprinter Justin Gatlin, whose win at September's Moscow Challenge was worth $500,000, tops the men's tally, with at least $602,205 in prize money earnings.

The IAAF athletes of the year, 1500m world champion Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and world high jump champion Hestrie Cloete of South Africa, were the runners-up, earning $279,841 and $323,560, respectively. Each received $100,000 for claiming the international governing body's top annual honor.

World triple jump champion Christian Olsson of Sweden was third in the men's compilation, with winnings of at least $254,304. British sprinter Dwain Chambers ($234,260) was fourth, with world indoor and outdoor high hurdles champion Allen Johnson of the United States fifth ($226,420). Rounding out the women's top-five is world pole vault champion Svetlana Feofanova of Russia ($318,884), followed by US sprinters Kelli White ($304,856) and Chryste Gaines ($210,392).

"It's important to note that with recent doping allegations and other pending suspensions or disqualifications still under investigation or appeal, some of the prize money reflected here will either be forfeited or not paid to certain athletes," said Track Proile Report Editor Bob Ramsak, who conducted the survey. "Obviously, that can significantly alter the face of the Top-10."

Most significantly impacted could be White, who tested positive for the stimulant modafinil at the world championships last August. She stands to lose at least $153,000, more than half of her prize money earnings for the year: $120,000 for her two world titles, $25,000 for finishing third in the IAAF athlete of the year race, along with the $8,000 she won for winning the 100 an 200m titles at last year's national championships.

Individual totals are based upon figures received from 52 of the 85 competitions contacted that provided individual prize money breakdowns. The individual tallies also include awards provided by meet series, such as the winter Telstra-A series in Australia, the four-meet indoor Energizer-Euro series, or Spain's Vodafone series. Bulk prize money figures, such as the $175,000 awarded at last February's Tyson Foods Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, are only reflected in the overall prize amounts. Publicly available performance incentive bonuses, meet record or world record bonuses are also included if reported.

While the tallies don't include confidentially negotiated appearance fees and other performance bonuses and incentives -- the "real" money earned by the sport's top stars-- the data provides a glimpse into the prize money available in track & field to the majority of athletes who cannot rely upon substantial appearance fees, large endorsements or sponsorship arrangements. The survey includes only stadia events. Many road races, marathons and cross country events offer significant prize money and incentives to distance runners, figures that are not included in the tallies here. Prize money for race walking events is not included.

Despite Mutola's $1 million prize, and five bonuses awarded for world records in the pole vault and the indoor 1500m, women still eared less than the men. Based on the data received, 1,038 male athletes from 87 countries earned $13,363,673, while 895 women from 83 countries collected $12,566,296.

Based on collected data, 27 men earned $100,000 or more, while only 19 women reached the $100,000 mark. 76 men and 64 women earned $50,000 or more, and 138 and 127 at least $25,000, respectively.

The data also points to a huge concentration at the top end of the compilation. The top 50 men earned $7,324,296, nearly as much as the remaining 983 combined. For the women, the difference was even greater, with the top fifty winning more than half of the total prize money offered.

"There's a dramatic increase in prize money from what was reported in last year's survey," Ramsak added, "largely because two World Championships were contested, with more than $4.4 million in prize money awarded on the track in those competitions alone." The big payday provided at the Moscow Challenge also had an impact on the overall totals. Additionally, Ramsak added that more organizers were willing to provide the requested information. For its part, the IAAF required all meets granted Golden League, Super Grand Prix, Grand Prix, and Grand Prix II status to publish their prize money structures on their respective official websites no later than one month prior to the competition.

Still, difficulties in compiling the information remain. Some meet organizers remain hesitant to provide the information, while an exhaustive search of all the meet websites showed that not all of the competitions followed the IAAF guideline of publishing their prize money structures.

With few exceptions, the top-10 in the overall tallies are dominated by athletes who won their respective events in August's World Championships. Sprinters Gatlin, Chambers, and Gaines, all of whom won significant prizes at the late September Moscow competition, are the exceptions.

Discounting the large awards given at the World Indoor and Outdoor Championships, the World Athletics Final and at the lucrative Moscow Challenge Invitational event, the average first place men's prize was $5,537; second place was $3,939; $2,550 for third, and $1,887 for fourth. For meets that provided awards to the top-eight finishers, the average eighth place award was $500. Women's figures were similar, but somewhat lower. The average winning award was $5,245; $3,856 for second, $2,392 for third, and $1,838 for fourth. The average eighth place prize was $543, slightly higher than the men's.

More detailed information, along with a top-50 ranking will appear in the forthcoming, Track Profile Reader 2004, due for release in late February.

Top-25 Prize Winners (Figures in $US. Awards in other currencies were converted at the prevailing exchange rate on the date of competition.)

Men

1. Justin Gatlin, USA, 602,205
2. Hicham El Guerrouj, MAR, 279,841
3. Christian Olsson, SWE, 254,304
4. Dwain Chambers, GBR, 234,260
5. Allen Johnson, USA, 226,420
6. Saif Saaeed Shaheen, QAT, 181,441
7. John Capel, USA, 175,245
8. Haile Gebrselassie, ETH, 167,056
9. Kenenisa Bekele, ETH, 164,130
10. Dwight Phillips, USA, 152,360
11. Jerome Young, USA, 145,279
12. Bernard Williams, USA, 140,098
13. Tyree Washington, USA, 138,310
14. Yuriy Borzakovskiy, RUS, 132,932
15. Felix Sanchez, DOM, 132,915
16. Wilfred Bungei, KEN, 132,640
17. Kim Collins, SKN, 124,932
18. Sergey Makarov, RUS, 121,800
19. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, RSA, 119,854
20. Eliud Kipchoge, KEN, 119,040
21. Stefan Holm, SWE, 113,010
22. Stanislavs Olijars, LAT, 110,734
23. Manuel Martinez, ESP, 105,368
24. Tim Lobinger, GER, 105,250
25. Tom Pappas, USA, 104,000

WOMEN

1. Maria Mutola, MOZ, 1,330,624
2. Hestrie Cloete, RSA, 323,560
3. Svetlana Feofanova, RUS, 318,884
4. Kelli White, USA, 304,856
5. Chryste Gaines, USA, 210,392
6. Tatyana Lebedeva, RUS, 188,147
7. Torri Edwards, USA, 154,078
8. Carolina Kluft, SWE, 153,420
9. Vita Palamar, UKR, 153,140
10. Muriel Hurtis, FRA, 152,198
11. Yelena Isinbayeva, RUS, 143,254
12. Sandra Glover, USA, 136,502
13. Zhanna Block, UKR, 131,424
14. Eunice Barber, FRA, 122,242
15. Berhane Adere, ETH, 115,782
16. Chandra Sturrup, BAH, 114,810
17. Jana Pittman, AUS, 110,205
18. Ana Guevara, MEX, 104,995
19. Kelly Holmes, GBR, 102,132
20. Gail Devers, USA, 99,985
21. Tatyana Kotova, RUS, 99,784
22. Christine Arron, FRA, 99,562
23. Kajsa Bergqvist, SWE, 97,976
24. Yipsi Moreno, CUB, 92,950
25. Francoise Mbango Etone, CMR, 92,465