Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson’s Pleas Do Not Go Unnoticed as USATF Takes Major Decision to Set Things in Line

“Do not donate. The athletes that need this money don’t see it.” Sha’Carri Richardson had no celebration time after winning the women’s 100m event in the Budapest World Athletics Championships. In Budapest, she silenced her critics. But her goal was bigger. In December 2023, she was up against the bigger problem—the low payment issue for the track and field athletes registered under Team USA. The lines mentioned in the quotes earlier appeared in her Instagram story as her part of the fight against the menace. She was curious about how Team USA or USATF spent the funding they received. Moreover, her request was to come to a positive solution. Noah Lyles also faced the rough end of the problem. 

Last year, in May, Noah confessed to spending his own money to compete in the US Olympic trials in Eugene. He had to burn his own pocket to pay for the flight tickets for his journey to the venue and accommodation charges. That wasn’t expected, right? 

After all, the American athletes were competing to gain a spot on the Olympic team. And that stood to be a glory. Also, in a situation where athletes were facing crunches in their pockets, they had to scratch their heads to pay the expenses. What was the reason behind it? With his colleague Kenny Bednarek, he also wanted the support system to stand behind the athletes. Now, almost 10 months later, USATF seems to bring hope among the athletes. 

USATF brings down pricy trees in the organization

On February 18 this year, Jonathan Gault broke a piece of news on letsrun.com. The veteran sports journalist wrote in the article, “Multiple high-ranking USATF employees were let go on January 31 as part of an organizational restructure.” The news added a few names who left the organization on that day. They were Aarti Parekh (Chief Communications Officer), Aretha Thurmond (Chief of Athlete Services and International Teams), and Robin Beamon (Director of Outreach & Grassroots Programs). 

Last year, USATF lost a few more names. Norm Wain (Chief of Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel), Adam Schmenk (Chief of Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel), Zack Raubuck (Director of Events), and Ryan Cash (Associate Director of Events) remained noteworthy. Among them, Norm had been the longest-serving employee in USATF. Yet all those employees were axed. Any routine schedule? No. Instead, there was a common link between those names. The report claimed that Aarti Parekh, Norm Wain, Aretha Thurmond, and Adam Schmenk were among the highest-paid employees in USATF. Two years ago, their paycheck used to run between $177,000 and $270,000. Such a huge fund spent on paying salaries had a speculated impact on the revenue part. 

Even the available data claims that in 2023, USATF’s revenue had to digest a severe blow. On top of that, add the athletes’ continuous argument on the low payment issue. Altogether, these double whammies may have played a role in laying off the employees. But will it be the steadfast solution for all the payment-related problems? You can take a call after hearing Noah Lyles out. 

Noah Lyles raises the issue of the absence of a retirement fund 

USATF has laid off four of its nine highest-paid employees in the current phase. The large number is still there. Also, Max Siegel, the CEO of USATF, is still there. Remember, in 2018, he took around $611,000 as a base salary. In 2023, his compensation was $1.17 million. So will there be a solution to Noah Lyles’ claimed problem after it? But what did Noah claim additionally? 

The six-time world champion demanded a retirement plan. Last year, before moving to the NYC Grand Prix, he raised the topic in the pre-match press conference. There, Noah sharpened his attack on the authority for turning a blind eye to the problems Per him, a good effort from the support system would have solved the problems. However, in its absence, American athletes have suffered the consequences. One such has been the absence of a retirement fund. On a further note, he claimed, “I know it is very hard for us to be able to save for retirement when we don’t have a 401K.” Before him, Justin Gatlin had shed light on the same issue. 

Last year in May, in his Ready Set Go podcast, Gatlin conceded, “We get no retirement fund. We get no 401(k), okay? We get no pension. We get none of that. So go ahead and keep making your money until you get your pockets where you need to be or either they close the door on you as a sport, period. And then you got to move on.” A supportive hand from USATF might solve the problem. Do you think that it will get a solution in the coming days? Let us know in the comment box.