06/24/26 10:03:00
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06/24 10:01 CDT Olympic athletes to get cash grants from new $100M fund created
by IOC
Olympic athletes to get cash grants from new $100M fund created by IOC
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) --- The International Olympic Committee is to pay
more than $100 million to athletes, creating a fund for $10,000 grants for
which they can apply after competing at a Summer or Winter Games.
The cash commitment from the IOC on Wednesday came after growing calls in
recent years to pay prize money at the Olympic Games.
IOC member and former NBA star Pau Gasol announced the project, which will
first be open to nearly 2,900 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina
Winter Games.
Around 11,000 athletes due to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games also
can apply for grants totaling about $110 million after those Olympics, if they
meet eligibility criteria such as not testing positive for doping.
"This is a win for all of us," said Gasol, who represents athletes on the
15-member IOC executive board, adding that it was "not prize money."
The cash promise was the signature issue on the agenda of an IOC meeting
setting a future strategy under its president Kirsty Coventry exactly one year
after she formally took office.
The 42-year-old Coventry is a five-time Olympian and two-time gold swimming
medalist for Zimbabwe. She was elected as the youngest president and most
recent former athlete in the IOC's modern history.
Paying prize money to Olympic medalists was a central policy for one of
Coventry's election opponents, World Athletics leader Sebastian Coe, who
oversaw rewarding track and field champions at the 2024 Paris Olympics with
$50,000.
"This is a historic moment for the movement and I'm absolutely delighted to be
in the room when this has been announced," Coe told his fellow IOC members,
praising Coventry's policy.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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