Equal pay has come to the Paralympics.
Paralympians and their Olympic counterparts are now being paid the same amount of money for winning medals, thanks to a rule that went into effect in Sept. 2018. The Tokyo Games is the first Olympics that has taken place since the rule was passed, though it was retroactively applied to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
“Paralympians are an integral part of our athlete community and we need to ensure we’re appropriately rewarding their accomplishments,” United States Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said back in 2018 when the rule change was announced.
“Our financial investment in U.S. Paralympics and the athletes we serve is at an all-time high, but this was one area where a discrepancy existed in our funding model that we felt needed to change."
The decision to make medal pay equal for the Olympics and Paralympics was just one part of a movement to recognize the Paralympics on the same level as the Olympics. The USOC changed its name to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee in 2019.
How much less were Paralympians paid before the rule?
According to the New York Times in 2019, Paralympians were paid $7,500 for gold, $5,250 for silver, and $3,750 for bronze. The decision to equalize medal pay increased the payouts for Paralympians by as much as 400 percent.
Now Paralympians are earning $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.
Athletes like Oksana Masters, an 8-time Paralympic medalist in cross country skiing and rowing, celebrated the decision as "life changing," as it finally demonstrated that Paralympic athletes are equal to Olympic athletes.
As I was reading this tears literally were streaming down my face not only bc of the equal pay for @Paralympics medals to @USParalympics athlete but the value and worth of Para athletes finally viewed equal to @Olympics. This is absolutely LIFE changing @TeamUSA thank you 🙏🏼 https://t.co/UIj17q1IuO
— Oksana Masters (@OksanaMasters) September 22, 2018
The Paralympics will begin Aug. 25 and finish Sept. 5.
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