Lausanne, Switzerland, November 11, 2020: The International Olympic Committee Executive Board has agreed to increase the budget of Olympic Solidarity for the period 2021 to 2024 by 16 per cent.
The budget for 2021-2024 will now total USD 590 million. With this decision, the IOC will further strengthen its support to athletes, National Olympic Committees and Continental Associations.
IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Solidarity is one of the key Olympic values which the Olympic community is actively promoting. Today’s decision to increase the budget of our Olympic Solidarity programme for the next four-year cycle by 16 per cent to USD 590 million is a very strong demonstration in times of a worldwide crisis.”
President Bach added: “At 25 per cent, the increase in the funding of direct athlete support programmes is even higher than the overall increase. Additionally, the athletes as members of the Olympic teams will benefit from the 25 per cent increase for NOCs.”
Presented by EB Member and Chair of the Olympic Solidarity Commission Robin Mitchell, the 2021–2024 Olympic Solidarity plan is fit for purpose in the post-coronavirus world, meaning that all funding and programmes go as a priority to Olympic Solidarity’s direct beneficiaries: the athletes and the NOCs.
It was also pointed out during the meeting that the decentralisation of a portion of the funds to the Continental Associations should be reinforced in order to develop sustained programmes responding to continental specificities.
To that end, the budget allocated to each NOC for its national activities has been increased to the equivalent of USD 500,000 per NOC per Olympiad, and continent-specific programme budgets have been increased by 24 per cent.
In the 2017-2020 quadrennial plan, over 25,000 athletes were supported through Olympic Solidarity, including 3,000 summer and winter sports athletes who were awarded Olympic scholarships.
For more details see: www.olympic.org
