Cathal Dennehy: The old, outdated status quo had to crumble eventually.

The IOC can go on about Olympic ideals, that this pursuit is more noble than the greasy professionalism that pervades sport elsewhere, but if that’s the case they should probably stop giving executive board members per diems of $900 while at events.

BRAVE MOVE: With the decision to award prize money in Paris, Sebastian Coe has launched a grenade into the Olympic movement, one that’s left many seething. In all honesty, it was long overdue. Pic: AP Photo//Michel Euler, File

The response was predictable, a rebuke as swift as it was strident from various authorities in their attempt to maintain the status quo. To rage against the dying light of amateurism at the Olympic Games.

It was only a matter of hours after World Athletics announced it would pay prize money at this year’s Paris Games that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) jumped into defensive mode, reminding everyone that it “redistributes 90% of all its income, in particular to the National Olympic Committees and International Federations”, adding it’s up to them “how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport.”