The International Olympic Committee will hand cash grants directly to Olympic athletes for the first time through a new fund, in a move it cast as a landmark step toward sharing the Games' revenue with competitors.
What the fund does
Each eligible athlete will be able to apply for a grant of $10,000, ESPN reported. The program begins with the roughly 2,900 athletes who will compete at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and is set to expand to the far larger field — around 11,000 athletes — at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games. Across both editions, the IOC's commitment runs to well over $100 million.
The grants are deliberately broad in eligibility. They are not tied to winning a medal or to a particular sport; any athlete who competes and clears anti-doping integrity checks can apply, with the money routed through national Olympic committees and required to reach athletes directly. IOC officials stressed the payments are "not prize money," distinguishing them from rewards for results.
The rationale
The announcement was made by Pau Gasol, the former NBA player who chairs the IOC athletes' commission, according to Al Jazeera. "This is a win for all of us," he said, framing the fund as a response to athletes' calls for more direct support during and after their Olympic careers.
The move comes under IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion elected to lead the organization in 2025. Coventry has resisted paying prize money to medalists, but the new fund addresses a long-running criticism that athletes see little of the billions the Games generate in broadcasting and sponsorship revenue.
A wider debate over paying athletes
The fund lands in the middle of a debate that has intensified across Olympic sport. At the 2024 Paris Games, World Athletics broke with tradition by awarding $50,000 to each track-and-field gold medalist — a decision led by its president, Sebastian Coe, who has championed greater athlete compensation and has signaled World Athletics will extend payments to silver and bronze medalists in 2028.
Supporters of the IOC's approach argue that a flat grant available to every Olympian spreads support more evenly than prize money, which flows only to the podium. Critics may note that $10,000 is modest next to the sums on offer at some other major competitions, and that it stops short of the revenue-sharing some athletes have sought. Either way, the fund marks the most direct financial link the IOC has yet created between the Games and the athletes who make them.
