Jonnie Peacock says Para-athletes should get 'equal pay' at Diamond League meetings

Peacock is one of the athletes to have competed at the Diamond League in the past

Para-athletes should get the same pay as non-disabled athletes at Diamond League meetings, says Jonnie Peacock.

He said the "public reacted amazingly" when Para events were included.

"The issue is that the meet organisers for whatever reason don't seem to be enjoying it," Peacock said.

The British sprinter, who won relay silver and T64 100m bronze at the Tokyo Games, added to BBC Radio 5 Live: "It makes you laugh because most of the time they try and get you for free. It's kind of a win-win but the less spoken about that, the better."

Each Diamond League meeting features a selection of events for the two-hour televised slot, which builds towards the end-of-season finale.

Some meetings also include Para-sport and underage events outside that televised slot.

In 2019, there were Para-athletics events at the Diamond League meetings in Belgium, Zurich, Lausanne and London. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 Para events in the UK - both held at Gateshead - only featured home-based athletes.

Peacock added: "There was a situation in the past where I had to be very strong and fight for people to get a £500 appearance fee at a Diamond League race where people were being put on posters in the exact same light as people like Dina Asher-Smith, who will be getting paid tens of thousands of pounds.

"Meet organisers are putting these people side by side and going: 'Aren't we great for equality having a race on? But you should be grateful that you have a race so don't you dare come and ask for prize money because if you do we will just get another event in'.

"I would love to see equal pay in this country. That would be the next step after getting the events in."

The 11-time Paralympic champion and BBC pundit Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson added that globally, the situation around the funding of elite disabled athletes is changing.

"Coming into this games the USA announced that the Olympians and Paralympians would get equal prize money, which is $36,000 [about £25,600] for a gold," she said.

"One of the Thailand athletes who has done incredibly well at this Games - Pongsakorn Paeyo - we reckon he will go home with half a million pounds of prize money for his three gold medals.

"We have Lottery funding but British sport needs to recognise the value that Paralympic and disabled athletes bring."

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