Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 6, 2022: Asian National Olympic Committees have been urged to apply for Olympic Solidarity (OS) scholarships for athletes in individual sports and for teams ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
On the third day of the OS/Olympic Council of Asia Regional Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Olympic Solidarity updated NOCs from East Asia and South East Asia on the various programmes available to support their athletes and teams.
The OS funding, which comes from the IOC’s TV broadcasting revenue from the Olympic Games, offers scholarships for athletes in individual sports. The programme for Paris began on January 1, 2022 and so far 30 NOCs from Asia are benefiting from the funding.
Regarding the team support grant, 20 Asian NOCs are using this funding in 32 team sports – and the OS representatives in Riyadh said the programme was still available to aid athletes and teams as they attempt to qualify for Paris 2024.
In another development from Olympic Solidarity, the NOCs were informed that there will be 102 universality places available in 21 sports at Paris 2024 for NOCs who cannot qualify an athlete through the qualification system. This is to ensure that all NOCs are represented at the Olympic Games.
The criteria for applying for a universality place is for NOCs who had eight or fewer athletes at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. A total of 93 NOCs are eligible to apply for a universality place when the process opens on October 1, 2023, with 17 of these NOCs from OCA and five from the NOCs of East and South East Asia in the forum room.
The sports of swimming and athletics are separate from this quota of 102 and are managed by FINA and World Athletics.