Supporting sport around the world, Olympic Solidarity at Paris 2024
30 July 2024 – Some 604 athletes from 171 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are currently competing in 24 sports at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and making history for their countries – with 8 medals so far at Paris 2024 – thanks to scholarships and grants provided by Olympic Solidarity. This follows a USD 590 million investment by Olympic Solidarity during the Paris 2024 cycle, with this figure expected to rise to USD 650 million for the LA28 cycle.
One of them is Micronesian swimmer Tasi Limtiaco, who finished third in his heat in the men’s 100m butterfly and was also his country’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony.
Limtiaco revealed how the support he received from Olympic Solidarity has been crucial in enabling him to move to an elite training environment and qualify for his second Olympic Games.
“I was born in one of the small outer islands of the Federated States of Micronesia, where we didn’t have enough resources to train [at an elite level],” he explained. “After the World Championships in Budapest (Hungary) in 2022, the 50-metre pool in Guam shut down due to lack of maintenance after COVID-19.
“But the scholarship helped me move out to San Diego (USA) to train with a really great team. I’ve set new national records, and I’m the first man [from Micronesia] to swim under 30 seconds for the 50m breaststroke.”
Ensuring the universality of the Olympic Games
The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to provide assistance to all NOCs, in particular those with the greatest need of it.
“The whole point of Olympic Solidarity is to support the universality of the Games. We believe that we need to invest in sport across the world so that athletes have an equal opportunity to be able to access the Games”
James Macleod, IOC Director of Olympic Solidarity, NOC Relations and Olympism365.
In the Olympic cycle leading up to Paris 2024, Olympic Solidarity invested USD 590 million through multifaceted programmes:
- USD 38 million of this funding has been directed into scholarships;
- A total of 1,560 athletes (843 men; 717 women) from 195 NOCs in 27 sports received scholarships for their training towards Paris 2024;
- From which 604 scholarship-holders (309 men; 295 women) from 171 NOCs in 24 sports are competing in Paris 2024.
The scholarships help to fund equipment, training costs and travel to international competitions so that athletes can not only qualify for the Games, but also compete with pride and achieve impressive results.
Paris 2024: the story so far
Among the Olympic Solidarity scholarship-holders who have competed over the first three days at Paris 2024, eight have already made history for their countries by grabbing medals.
Highlights from the first few days include:
- Flagbearers: 139 Paris scholarship-holders (75 men; 64 women) carried their country’s flag at the Opening Ceremony on 26 July.
- Olympic champions: After three full days of competition, five athletes have already won gold medals, including David Popovici, who became the first male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal for Romania.
- History makers: Distria Krasniqi won silver in the women’s judo 52kg event, becoming the first athlete representing Kosovo to win multiple Olympic medals, while Mohamed Elsayed became the second Egyptian to win an Olympic medal in fencing after taking bronze in the men’s individual épée event.
Ten athletes share behind-the-scenes insights
In the build-up to Paris 2024, 10 Olympic Solidarity scholarship-holders have been sharing their journeys on the road to the Games with the IOC, and like Tasi Limtiaco, some of them have already been in action:
- Rower Akoko Komlanvi from Togo competed at her first Olympic Games in the women’s single sculls event.
- Chile’s Martín Vidaurre competed at his second Games and finished 11th in the men’s mountain bike event, an improvement on his 16th-place finish at Tokyo 2020.
“I think you can see that in a number of sports here in Paris, athletes from countries that are not traditionally strong in that sport are able to access those competitions, and actually do quite well,” Macleod explains.
“It’s really great seeing smaller countries start to take gold medals, I think that’s what the Olympic Games are all about, not just having two or three countries have all the medals. We want to see other countries develop and be in the finals or even on the medal podium. It’s allowed smaller countries like my own to have this opportunity and step up.”
Tasi Limtiaco, Micronesian swimmer
“I feel like I’ve taken sports in Micronesia to a higher level, and that’s all thanks to the funding Olympic Solidarity has provided for me. Hopefully this helps the next generation of athletes in Micronesia to take that next step as well,”
With athletes and teams every step of the journey
While the Olympic Games is the ultimate goal for these athletes, the support delivered by Olympic Solidarity benefits them all year-round, and those who have qualified represent just some of those who were supported during the Olympic cycle. In addition to the support for individual athletes, Olympic Solidarity also supports teams and refugee athletes:
- Team support grants: 215 teams (99 men’s; 116 women’s) from 140 NOCs in eight sports. These grants support teams for regional, continental and Olympic Games objectives. Some 26 of these teams (14 women’s; 12 men’s) from 24 NOCs in seven sports are participating in Paris 2024.
- Refugee Athlete Scholarships: 74 refugee athletes from 24 host countries, representing 14 sports, received grants to support their efforts to qualify for Paris 2024. Thirty-seven athletes are competing in Paris as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
Wide-ranging support
Olympic Solidarity support goes far beyond the direct support received by athletes, with its multi-faceted programmes also offering training to coaches and sports administrators and courses promoting the Olympic values. Here are a few examples:
- Support for entourage: Since Tokyo, over 22,000 coaches and over 15,000 sports administrators have attended courses funded by Olympic Solidarity, leading to a stronger entourage for athletes competing in Paris.
- Empowering women coaches: Olympic Solidarity funds the WISH programme – the Women in Sport High-Performance Coach Pathway – which has trained over 100 women for coaching at the elite level, with 10 of them here coaching in Paris.
- Helping athletes off the field of play: Olympic Solidarity also helps empower athletes to contribute to the decision-making process through the NOC Athletes’ Commission Activity Grants, and supports athletes to take their next steps after their competitive career comes to an end through its Athlete Career Transition programme.
Increase in funding on the road to Los Angeles 2028
On 20 July, ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and following a proposal from the Olympic Solidarity Commission, the IOC Executive Board approved an increase in Olympic Solidarity funding for the next Olympic cycle to LA 2028. This includes:
- More funding: an increase in the overall Olympic Solidarity budget for 2025 to 2028 by 10 per cent, reaching a total of USD 650 million.
- Athlete support: an increase of 16 per cent for athlete support programmes, up to a total of USD 66 million.
- Olympism365: A 15 per cent budget increase for programmes linked to the Olympic values and initiatives advancing Olympism365. This will support NOCs in their endeavours to actively contribute to the IOC’s strategy to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Read more about the full range of support offered by Olympic Solidarity in its 2023 Annual Report
