Shannon Sharpe forced to clarify remarks after fans told him he owed US gold medalist Cole Hocker $50k from bet

SHANNON Sharpe is backtracking on his plan to pay American Olympians for winning in Paris.

On his podcast, Nightcap, Sharpe and Chad Johnson were left flabbergasted by how much Team USA members earn for each gold medal.

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Team USA Olympians earn $37,500 for winning a gold medal, but Johnson felt it should be $200,000.

Sharpe then made it known that he would send payouts to certain athletes if they won gold medals.

Him and Johnson would put up $25,000 each if Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Ryan Bailey won.

Lyles will have a $50,000 check coming his way after winning the 100m.

After that statement, Sharpe upped the stakes even more, saying “I’ll give $50,000 to any American to break a world record. I don’t give a damn what the event is.”

There is seemingly no leniency in that rule though, as fans have begged for long-distance runner Cole Hocker to get a payout.

Hocker stunned the world after digging deep to comeback and win the 1,500m race, setting an Olympic record in the process.

However, Hocker only set an Olympic record and not a world record, which prompted Sharpe to say he didn’t owe him anything.

“@NightcapShow_ @ShannonSharpe @ochocinco u owe another 50k unc to cole hocker he just set a new 1500M RECORD,” a fan wrote on X.

“Was it WR? I SPECIFICALLY SAID WORLD RECORD!!!!!!!” Sharpe replied.

Hocker set a time of 3:27.65 minutes, just a second off the 3:26.00 world record set by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1998.

Rules are rules, and Sharpe is going to hold out on paying $50k to Hocker, but maybe he will give him one of the $25k gold medal payouts.

Sharpe may hold out on that as well though, as 27 Americans have now won gold in Paris.

If he were to pay for all of them, Sharpe would need to pay out $675,000, and the Olympics aren’t even over yet.

How to watch the Olympics in the US

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While you may feel very far from the 2024 Paris Olympics , you can stay up-to-date with all of the action right from the comfort of your sofa.

You can watch on:

• Peacock
• Sling
• Hulu
• Fubo

Or if you’re not able to watch, you can follow along with The Sun’s live blog for the latest updates from France.

There are still many more opportunities for Team USA to win gold in Paris, with multiple track and field events still yet to finish.

It’s a good thing Sharpe and Johnson didn’t give payouts for silver or bronze medals too, as Team USA is crushing the total medal count with 95 overall.

They have won 27 gold medals, 35 silver medals, and 33 bronze medals so far in Paris.

There are only four days left of Olympic competition, and Team USA will look to maintain their gold medal lead through the end of the games.

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