Olympia:”Olympia dies”: Sharp criticism of the IOC – prize money for Olympic champion suggested

At the World Cup races in Kitzbühel, prominent representatives of alpine ski racing have voiced harsh criticism of the Olympic Games and, in addition, demanded prize money for the medal winners:”I believe that if we continue to do so, Olympia will die,”said DSV Alpine Director Wolfgang Maier at the “Mountain Peak” symposium on the state of the Olympic Games.

In a contribution to the debate, Maier criticised that the priorities had long since shifted in the wrong direction:”The most important thing about Olympia is no longer the athlete,”he said. He said he had warned his athletes that in a year when the Olympics were taking place, they would now be driven “like sheep” again, and he also complained that every World Championship was “better organised than the Olympic Games”.

In addition, Maier raised the question of why Olympic champions at the “Olympic Games” did not receive “500,000 or a million euros in prize money”. Peter Schröcksnadel, President of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV), said,”Why is it not possible to pay the Olympic gold medal to the Olympic champion?

Maier sees the fundamental evil of the development of decision-makers in associations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as being that “the death of this major sporting event is today’s sports official”, the reality being that markets and commerce are more important than athletes. Maier was supported by former racer Marco Büchel, who now works as an expert for the ZDF television station “Sport is a vehicle for the IOC to make money”, said the Liechtensteiner.

Schröcksnadel is also of the opinion that sportsmen and women should be brought back to the centre of attention,”they must be the bearers of the Olympic Games and not the officials,”he said.

The German ski star Felix Neureuther had also harshly criticized the condition of the Olympic movement on several occasions.