By Adeolu Johnson
About 11,000 athletes due to compete in 2028 in Los Angeles will benefit from grants totaling about $110m after those Olympics, if they meet integrity criteria such as not testing positive for doping.
International Olympic Committee,IOC, pledged on Wednesday to pay to athletes through the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games by creating a fund for $10,000 grants, which they can apply for after competing.
The IOC’s cash commitment came after growing calls were strongly resisted in recent years to pay prize money at the Olympics, and signaled another policy shift under its president, Kirsty Coventry.
The IOC’s cash commitment came after growing calls were strongly resisted in recent years to pay prize money at the Olympics, and signaled another policy shift under its president, Kirsty Coventry.
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.
“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”.
The money allocated by the IOC is not dependent on an athlete continuing their career.
The cash promise was the signature issue of an IOC meeting setting a future strategy under Coventry exactly one year after she formally took office.
Gasol said the IOC had heard a consistent message during its strategy review: “Athletes want more direct support throughout their Olympic journey and beyond.”
The 42-year-old Coventry is a five-time Olympian and two-time swimming gold medallist for Zimbabwe. She was elected as the youngest president and the most recent former athlete in the IOC’s modern history.
Paying prize money to Olympic medallists 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.
In Los Angeles, World Athletics is adding to its prize fund to pay silver and bronze medalists as well.
