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Athletes front and centre

The IOC has empowered athletes within the decision-making processes of the IOC and put them at the heart of the Olympic Movement.

  • The IOC organised two editions of the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, in a safe way during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. This ensured that the respective generation of athletes could still make their Olympic dream come true.

  • More than 200,000 Olympians, Paralympians, elite athletes and entourage members have signed up to the Athlete365 community, a dedicated one-stop-shop digital platform and mobile application, offering programmes and resources for athletes.

  • More than 250,000 athletes have been supported by Olympic Solidarity, from grassroots to continental to Olympic level through Olympic Solidarity’s athlete development programmes, with a 67 per cent increase in the budget for athletes and sport development (USD 167 million in 2025-2028 compared to USD 100 million in 2013-2016).

  • Through the Olympic Scholarships for Athletes – Paris 2024 programme:

  • 1,560 Olympic scholarships were allocated to athletes from 195 NOCs.

  • 599 Olympic scholarship-holders (301 men, 298 women) from 172 NOCs competed in 24 sports at the Games.

  • Olympic scholarship-holders won a total of 75 medals (26 gold, 20 silver and 29 bronze) and 131 diplomas.

  • Through the Athlete365 Career+ programme, the IOC has supported more than 60,000 athletes through mentorship and training opportunities that prepare them for careers beyond sport.

  • Through Olympic Solidarity, the IOC supports all NOC Athletes’ Commissions (ACs) by providing up to USD 10,000 annually to support a range of activities.

  • In 2018, following an extensive consultation process with more than 4,200 athletes from 190 countries, the IOC Athletes’ Commission developed the Athletes’ Rights and Responsibility Declaration, a set of aspirational rights and responsibilities for athletes within the Olympic Movement to represent their voices and empower them.

  • The IOC established the Olympic medal reallocation principles to ensure that clean athletes are rightfully recognised. Over 75 Olympic medals have been reallocated since the inception of these principles.

  • The IOC launched the Safeguarding Officer in Sport Certificate to fundamentally strengthen the protection of athletes against harassment and abuse. By the end of 2024, 343 students/graduates from 99 NOCs had taken part in the programme.

  • One hundred per cent of Olympic International Sports Federations report having a designated safeguarding focal point, with 77 per cent having a Safeguarding Officer trained through the IOC Certificate: Safeguarding Officer in Sport. Fifty-four per cent of 199 NOCs surveyed reported having appointed a trained safeguarding officer in their organisation.

  • An AI tool to combat cyber-abuse and protect athletes was implemented at Paris 2024. The tool analysed some 2.4 million posts and comments, flagged 152,000 posts, and identified for further action 10,284 comments verified as abusive; 353 athletes and officials were directly targeted and offered well-being support as needed.

  • The IOC has established a Mental Health Action Plan for the implementation of evidence-based, research-driven efforts to promote mental well-being among athletes, coaches and support staff.

  • The IOC adopted an innovative new approach to safeguarding and mental health at Paris 2024 designed to address barriers to help-seeking. This included the Athlete365 Mind Zone.

  • The IOC announced a USD 10 million fund per Olympiad and the start of the innovative Safe Sport Regional Hub Initiative, to strengthening safeguarding at local level, in response to Olympic Movement stakeholder requests for IOC leadership on this critical issue.

  • Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) launched the Olympic Commentary Training programme. Forty-six former Olympic and Paralympic athletes took part in the training, and 12 were hired as commentators at Paris 2024.

  • The IOC has empowered and supported athletes through engagement with the IOC’s Worldwide Olympic Partners. More than 13,000 Olympians and 5,000 Paralympians have benefitted from the programme, receiving more than USD 9 million in Airbnb500 grants, for example.

What they have said

“Athlete365 has been very useful during my Olympic journey. It deepened my understanding of the Olympic Movement and made the Games more engaging by offering team-building programmes at the Athlete365 space during our rest days. The support continues beyond the Olympics. I still use the Athlete365 email as my primary one, benefitted from Airbnb support, and am now applying to the Business Accelerator programme. I appreciate being part of a community that supports athletes between Games, offering growth opportunities. As a member of the Hungarian Olympic Athletes’ Committee, I’m proud to promote the values of Athlete365 and the Olympic Movement.” – Marton Kekesi, Hungary, Alpine skiing

“Olympic Agenda reinforced the importance of athletes’ rights and responsibilities while also strengthening safe sport and the protection of clean athletes. As we know, teamwork is a powerful element of sport as it is in sports administration, and so I look forward to our ongoing joint efforts to ensure that the right of every athlete to compete on a level playing field is upheld.” – Ryan Pini, WADA Athlete Council, Chair

“I am so grateful that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 could happen. They were our ‘north star’ during the pandemic, and the prospect of having the Games kept me going even in the toughest times.” - Niluka Karunaratne, three-time Olympian, Sri Lanka, badminton

Olympic Agenda reforms highlights

Olympic Agenda Highlights

IOC Members meeting at the 144th Session in Greece celebrated the achievements of Olympic Agenda. In a series of presentations, the highlights of the Olympic Agenda reforms and their impacts on the IOC and the wider Olympic Movement were outlined. They included a 30-minute film showcasing the achievements of the reforms with powerful testimonials from individuals, personalities and organisations, all of whom have been positively impacted.