Olympic Solidarity athlete programmes for Tokyo 2020 extended into 2021

The IOC Athletes’ Commission informed the athletes of this via Athlete365. It also reminded athlete representatives in a global conference call that a programme had recently been launched to empower NOC athletes’ commissions to conduct their annual activities. The athlete representatives were encouraged to use this as much as possible.

Specifically, the programmes that will be extended until the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 are: “Olympic Scholarships for Athletes Tokyo 2020”, “Team Support Grants”, “Refugee Athlete Support” and “Olympic Games Subsidies”.

“This is great news for the athletes around the world. It will ensure that the principles of solidarity and universality will be fully respected, and will not be affected by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” said Kirsty Coventry, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. “Athletes are at the heart of the Olympic Games and will never be left behind, even under these exceptional circumstances that we are currently in.”

Olympic Solidarity was created more than 50 years ago, aimed at assisting all the NOCs, particularly those with the greatest need, through multi-faceted programmes prioritising athlete development, training for coaches and sports administrators, and promoting the Olympic values.

World Programmes, Continental Programmes and IOC Subsidies for Participation in Olympic Games cover the objectives of the NOCs, which are mainly to improve their functioning and organisational ability; create or develop efficient structures; organise training courses at various levels; and profit from the technical and financial resources available, which in turn will benefit their athletes.

NOCs are offered a flexible approach to the use of funding, in order better to meet their individual needs, recognising the diversity of the Olympic Movement.

Through its Refugee Athlete Support programme, Olympic Solidarity is currently helping 48 refugee athlete scholarship-holders aiming to be selected as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020.

Meet the refugee athlete scholarship-holders here.

In the framework of the 2013-2016 quadrennial plan, 12,000 NOC activities were supported worldwide by Olympic Solidarity, including 2,000 scholarships for athletes, 1,500 training courses for coaches and sports administrators, and 750 initiatives to promote the Olympic values. At the Olympic Games Rio 2016, 101 medals were awarded to Olympic scholarship-holders (33 gold, 26 silver and 42 bronze).