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Shannon Sharpe and his podcast co-host Chad Johnson made a promise to pay US Olympians $25,000 for winning gold medals this summer in Paris. Sharpe took things a step further, upping the ante with a $50,000 offer for record setting performances.
The pledge came as a response to seeing the payouts for American medal winners, which tops out at $37,500 for gold.
That number pales in comparison to a few other countries, most notably Singapore, where they dole out $737,000 for first place. Wanting to help bridge the gap for those athletes repping the red, white, and blue, Sharpe opted to open up his own checkbook.
“You win the gold, you get $25,000,” Sharpe said on his Nightcap Show podcast. “And I’ll pay $50,000 to any American who breaks a world record, I don’t give a damn what the event is!”
*World Record* being the key denotation.
On Tuesday, long distance runner Cole Hocker pulled off a major upset in the men’s 1500-meter. In doing so, he set a new Olympic record and earned a gold medal.
@nbcolympics WOW. 😱 A STUNNING upset in the men’s 1500m as AMERICAN COLE HOCKER takes gold! #ParisOlympics #colehocker #usatf #teamusa #oregonducks #trackandfield #1500m ♬ original sound – NBC Olympics & Paralympics
Followers quickly spammed Shannon Sharpe’s social media accounts.
@NightcapShow_ @ShannonSharpe @ochocinco U owe another 50k unc to cole hocker he just set a new 1500M RECORD
-X account @Chosen_1X
Sharpe quickly clarified!
Was it WR? I SPECIFICALLY SAID WORLD RECORD!!!!!!!
-Shannon Sharpe / X: @ShannonSharpe
The Olympic record, while impressive, wasn’t good enough to best the world record. Semantics!
Cole Hocker won’t land that $50,000 payday from Shannon Sharpe, but he did bank $25,000 for the 1500-meter win.
Sharpe and his co-host are racking up quite the bill with Team USA moving into first place in the medal count with 24 golds and 86 total. That comes out to $600,000 each for the Nightcap Show duo!