"It's more money in my bank account'' - Tara Davis-Woodhall reacts to World Athletics announcing $50K prizes for Olympic medalists

Tara Davis-Woodhall is certainly happy with World Athletics' decision to award Olympic medalists prize money, a first for any sport. The American will be a favorite to make it to the podium in the long jump events in Paris, and she can't wait to cash in on her success.

On the 10th of April, WA, the international governing body for track and field, announced that they would reward all athletics gold medalists from the 2024 Games with a sum of USD 50,000. This was largely hailed as a historic decision, with no other Olympic sport offering winners any type of prize money.

The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, also stated that the federation was working on providing rewards for all podium finishers from the LA 2028 Olympics.

Reacting to this news, World Championships silver-medalist and Olympic long-jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall is certain that the prize money is a step in the right direction. Speaking at an event, Davis-Woodhall said that she's looking forward to cashing in on her efforts in Paris while praising WA for their decision.

“Cha-Ching, I mean it's more money in my bank account. That's good, that's evolving. I mean, we were talking about this earlier. For World Athletics, this isn't their area. So to give money up like that, in an area that they aren't even sponsoring, they're just giving money to their athletes. I think that's pretty cool.”

The American went on to add that track and field was an expensive sport, and athletes often ended up losing money when competing overseas.

“This sport is expensive. There's a lot of money you have to put out to be great, to compete. Why do we have to go all the way to Europe, spend all this money, and barely get a dime when we come back to the (United) States. You can lose money in track and field as soon as you step out the door. Hopefully it can change and we're doing it now.”

Tara Davis-Woodhall wins gold in Glasgow

For Tara Davis-Woodhall, the possibility of pocketing the 50k prize money in Paris looks pretty bright. The 2023 World Championships silver-medalist has started her Olympic year on a high, winning all the competitions she has participated in so far.

In late January, Davis-Woodhall made her Olympic year debut at the Razorback Invitational, winning gold before going on to claim the title at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.

Next, the Olympian competed at the USATF Indoor Championships, clinching the win with a world-leading jump of 7.18m. From there, the former Texas Longhorn went on to win the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, jumping a 7.07 that put her well ahead of the field. So far in the season, Tara Davis-Woodhall remains the only woman to have breached the 7-meter mark.