Robert Griffin III: How former NFL star 'rubbished' world championships prize with $100,000 proposal to Christian Coleman

Robert Griffin III and Christian Coleman

Robert Griffin III: How former NFL star 'rubbished' world championships prize with $100,000 proposal to Christian Coleman

Funmilayo Fameso 12:36 - 03.03.2024

Former NFL star Robert Griffin III making a $100,000 stake on Christian Coleman is an 'insult' to the World Athletics body and here's why.

Following Christian Coleman's World Indoor Championships success of claiming the 60m title, former NFL star Robert Griffin III made a whooping proposal of $100,000.

At first, it was about Robert Griffin III making an X post on Coleman's 'UNREAL' start in the 60m final in Glasgow and then reposting it with a college video of the two-time world indoor champion running a 40-yard dash in record-breaking time, stating the 'MASSIVE' difference between football speed and track speed.

The $100,000 proposal by Robert Griffin III to Christian Coleman

After the video went viral, Coleman responded with a repost, bragging that his start is even better now than in college.

It led to the former NFL star proposing a $100,000 prize money if he clocked a sub-4secs time in a 40-yard dash, to which Coleman accepted the challenge easily.

How Robert Griffin III 'rubbished' Christian Coleman's world title winning prize money

While it may look like an ordinary challenge and proposal to Robert Griffin III, the $100,000 offered for a mere game race is higher than Coleman's World Indoor Championships winning prize money of $50,000 - further showing how poorly paid track and field athletes are at major championships.

To buttress this, Coleman needed six years to regain his 60m world title he last won in 2018, months of hard work and preparations to achieve this goal, and to do that, he had to defeat one of the fastest and most competitive sprinters in history Noah Lyles.

Staking $100,000 on a mere challenge by Robert Griffin III is not so much an amount to a former NFL star, but to Coleman, that's double the prize he spent months preparing for to become a world champion.

Christian Coleman defeated Noah Lyles to win the 60m world title

Track and Field is one of the world's most popular sports, and most famous at the Olympics.

If an athletics world champion was awarded $50,000, and a former NFL star is willing to double the prize for an easy challenge, it expatiates further why the World Athletics body needs to do better with funding of medallists at major championships, as its degrading not just to the athletes but the sport.

Tags: