IOC Breaks 130-Year Tradition by Paying Athletes to Compete at the Olympics

For the first time in 130 years of Olympic history, athletes will be paid to compete at the Games. The International Olympic Committee, known as the IOC, announced on Wednesday that it has created a $140 million fund. Every athlete who competes in a Summer or Winter Olympics will receive a $10,000 grant. The program starts with the roughly 3,000 athletes who took part in the Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

The grant will also be given to the about 11,000 athletes expected to compete at the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028. After that, every future Olympic Games will include the same payment for all competitors. The IOC said athletes must apply for the grant about six months after their Games have ended. To qualify, athletes must have followed the Olympic rules and must not have been caught cheating with performance-enhancing drugs, which is called doping.

Pau Gasol, a former NBA star who now leads the IOC's Athletes' Commission, explained why the grant matters. He said the money is not just for medal winners or athletes from wealthy countries. 'Every Olympian, because while every athlete's journey is different, every Olympian has made sacrifices to reach the Olympic stage, years of dedication, years of hard work, years of believing in a dream,' Gasol said. He added that the grant honors the hard work of past, present, and future Olympians around the world.

Some athletes had been pushing the IOC to go even further by offering prize money for winning medals. The IOC said no to that idea, and it made clear that this grant is something different. 'Let's let it be clear, this is not prize money,' Gasol said. 'This is about recognising the journey and the commitment that it takes to become an Olympian.' Right now, only World Athletics — the group that runs track and field — supports giving out prize money at the Olympics.

The IOC has nearly $5 billion in its reserves, and many athletes had been calling on the organization to share more of that money directly with competitors. Wednesday's announcement was seen as a big step forward. Sebastian Coe, the head of World Athletics, called it a historic moment. He said there are still some details to work out, but added: 'This is a historic moment for the movement and I'm absolutely delighted to be in the room when this has been announced.'