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LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Olympic Committee is to pay more than $100 million to athletes, creating a fund for $10,000 grants for which they can apply after competing at a Summer or Winter Games.
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The cash commitment from the IOC on Wednesday came after growing calls in recent years to pay prize money at the Olympic Games.
IOC member and former NBA star Pau Gasol announced the project, which will first be open to nearly 2,900 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Around 11,000 athletes due to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games also can apply for grants totaling about $110 million after those Olympics, if they meet eligibility criteria such as not testing positive for doping.
“This is a win for all of us,” said Gasol, who represents athletes on the 15-member IOC executive board, adding that it was “not prize money.”
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The cash promise was the signature issue on the agenda of an IOC meeting setting a future strategy under its president Kirsty Coventry exactly one year after she formally took office.
The 42-year-old Coventry is a five-time Olympian and two-time gold swimming medalist for Zimbabwe. She was elected as the youngest president and most recent former athlete in the IOC’s modern history.
Paying prize money to Olympic medalists was a central policy for one of Coventry’s election opponents, World Athletics leader Sebastian Coe, who oversaw rewarding track and field champions at the 2024 Paris Olympics with $50,000.
“This is a historic moment for the movement and I’m absolutely delighted to be in the room when this has been announced,” Coe told his fellow IOC members, praising Coventry’s policy.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games