IOC Creates $100M Fund, Will Allow Summer, Winter Olympic Athletes to Apply for $10K Grants

The International Olympic Committee is providing a new avenue for its summer and winter athletes to receive compensation.

Per Graham Dunbar of the Associated Press, the IOC announced that it has created a $100 million fund in which athletes can apply for $10,000 grants after competing at a Summer or Winter Games.

Basketball Hall of Famer and IOC member Pau Gasol announced the project, revealing that it will first be available to the nearly 2,900 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

"This is a win for all of us," said Gasol, who is the athlete representative on the 15-member IOC executive board. He added that the fund was "not prize money."

According to Dunbar, the nearly 11,000 athletes who are set to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games can also "apply for grants totaling about $110 million after those Olympics, if they meet eligibility criteria such as not testing positive for doping."

The cash commitment from the IOC addresses the longstanding calls for athletes to receive prize money at the Olympic Games. IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who is a five-time Olympian and two-time gold-medal swimmer for Zimbabwe, made the compensation issue one of her top priorities since taking office last year.

"This is a historic moment for the movement and I'm absolutely delighted to be in the room when this has been announced," World Athletics leader Sebastian Coe told his fellow IOC members, praising Coventry's policy.