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Athlete groups have welcomed the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to financially support every Olympian with $10,000 – but said that this can only be the beginning.
The grant was announced at the IOC Session in Lausanne on Wednesday. The IOC is setting aside the $140 million per Olympiad (the four-year cycle between summer Games) for around 14,000 athletes.

The first athletes eligible are those who competed at this year’s Milan/Cortina Winter Olympics and those at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
“Colletive pressure, collective win for Olympics athletes,” said the Global Athlete group.
The group had initially wanted $25,000 per athlete and German group Athletes Germany also said that while “welcoming” a “long overdue” IOC decision, more is needed.
“The announced fund volume of $140 million per Olympiad represents less than 2% of the IOC’s total revenue for the same cycle. There is still considerable room for improvement before we reach a fair level of participation,” board member Leo Köpp said.

The IOC had resisted paying its athletes for decades and athletes’ commission chairman Pau Gasol insisted the grant was not prize money but rather “about recognizing the journey and the commitment it takes to become an Olympian.”
The grant is a first important decision in the IOC’s Fit for the Future reform programme under its new president, Kirsty Coventry.
But the International Paralympic Committee made clear on Thursday that the payment is only for Olympians, not Paralympians.
A spokesman told dpa that the Paralympics work in a different financial environment to the Olympics and it is not practically possible at present to offer similar grants.
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