The International Olympic Committee has announced a landmark fund that will provide $10,000 grants to every athlete who competes at the Olympic Games, marking one of the most significant shifts in the organisation's approach to athlete compensation in its modern history. The IOC, meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, pledged up to $140 million through the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games, stopping short of formal prize money but delivering direct financial support to participants regardless of whether they win a medal.

The fund will initially cover nearly 2,900 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games, with the scheme applying retroactively to those Games. Around 11,000 athletes expected to compete in Los Angeles will also be eligible, bringing the total allocation for that edition alone to approximately $110 million. To qualify, athletes must not have violated anti-doping or ethical rules. Pau Gasol, the former NBA and Spanish national team basketball star who serves as the IOC's athlete representative on its 15-member executive board, announced the programme, emphasising that it is open to all Olympians — not just medallists. "Every Olympian has had to make sacrifices and work hard for years to reach the Olympic stage. This is a win for all of us," he said.

The announcement comes under IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a five-time Olympian and two-time swimming gold medallist from Zimbabwe who became the youngest and most recently active athlete to lead the organisation. The grant fund is the centrepiece of a strategic review branded "Fit for the Future," marking one year since Coventry formally took office. Coventry has consistently opposed using Olympic revenues to pay prize money to an elite tier of medallists, a position that drew public criticism last month when she reiterated it during a visit to New Zealand — before the grant scheme had been publicly announced. "The backlash was a little frustrating," she acknowledged, explaining that the policy had still been confidential at the time.

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics and one of Coventry's rivals in last year's IOC presidential election, welcomed the decision warmly. "This is a historic moment for the movement," he told fellow IOC members. Coe had championed direct payments to athletes, having overseen $50,000 prizes for track and field gold medallists at the 2024 Paris Olympics. World Athletics also plans to extend prize money to silver and bronze medallists at the Los Angeles Games.

The grants will be administered through an IOC online platform, with funds channelled through national Olympic committees, which will be required to demonstrate that payments reached athletes directly. Even elite professionals — including wealthy athletes in men's basketball, football, and ice hockey — will be eligible, though participation in the application process will be voluntary. The IOC already runs a separate "Olympic Solidarity" programme worth $650 million per four-year cycle that supports athletes from less wealthy nations in qualifying and preparing for the Games, but Wednesday's announcement extends direct financial recognition to all competitors for the first time.