Dame Denise Lewis, won gold in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Great Britain, said the announcement is “really positive”, but added athletics “has not been a rich sport”.

“This is nothing to do with ‘the Olympics is supposed to be about valour, about honour and representation of your country’, this is absolutely a gesture from World Athletics to its athletes,” Lewis told BBC 5 Live Drive.

“The Olympics earns billions – as we know, for a lot of people, but the athletes don’t always get that in track and field.”

Lewis, who also took heptathlon bronze at the Atlanta Games in 1996, said prize money would not devalue the achievement of reaching an Olympics, rather it would offer athletes a possible incentive to continue competing.

“And to just give them a little bit of assistance going forward,” she added.

Rutherford, who was also an Olympic bronze medallist in Rio in 2016, said he hopes other sports can adopt the same approach as World Athletics.

“Athletes from around the world sacrifice so much to achieve the most difficult accolade in sport, becoming Olympic champion – standing at the top of the podium and hearing your national anthem is one of the greatest feelings you can have,” he said.

“But, the scrutiny that the athletes are constantly under – along with the comparisons to other sporting success stories – always fail to mention the lack of financial support given.”

The 2015 long jump world champion added: “I really hope the athletes across all sports will now finally be supported by the multi-billion dollar IOC and their efforts, not just by individual sports, for the long-term health of the Olympic movement.

“We do this for the love of the sport, but it is also our livelihood.”

Swedish Olympic pole vault champion Armand Duplantis said World Athletics’ move was a “step in the right direction”.

Meanwhile, Norwegian Olympic 400m hurdle champion Karsten Warholm said the prize money did not change his motivation to win an Olympic gold medal, but he agreed it was the “right direction” for building a professional sport.

However, Jonathan Edwards, GB gold medallist at Sydney 2000 and still the men’s triple jump world record holder, said the decision was “a little bit odd”.

“It’s not [World Athletics’] event, it’s the Olympics. It feels like a bit of an undercut to the IOC, who have been very strict around saying ‘we’re not going to have prize money'”, said the 57-year-old.

“Athletes who win at the Olympic Games already get rewards.”