A new multimillion-dollar fund will give every Olympian $10,000, beginning with Milano-Cortina competitors, in a historic shift for the Games

The International Olympic Committee has announced one of the most significant financial reforms in modern Olympic history, confirming that athletes will receive direct payments for competing at the Games for the first time.

Under the new plan, every Olympic athlete will be eligible for a $10,000 grant, beginning with competitors from the Milano-Cortina Winter Games. The policy marks a major break with more than a century of Olympic tradition, under which the IOC resisted paying athletes directly and instead distributed revenues through national Olympic committees, sports federations and development programs.

The initiative will be funded through a new multimillion-dollar athlete-support scheme, estimated at about £106 million. It is expected to cover thousands of athletes across both Winter and Summer Games, including competitors who do not win medals and those from smaller or less wealthy national teams.

The decision reflects mounting pressure on the IOC to address the financial realities faced by athletes. While the Olympics generate billions of dollars from broadcasting, sponsorship and commercial partnerships, many competitors struggle to cover training, travel, coaching, equipment and living costs. For athletes in less commercial sports, Olympic participation can come at the expense of employment, education and long-term financial security.

The IOC has framed the payments as participation grants rather than prize money. That distinction is politically important. The Olympic movement has long avoided direct competition fees, partly to preserve the idea of the Games as a universal sporting festival rather than a professional prize event. But the new policy acknowledges that modern Olympians are no longer operating in the same financial world that shaped the movement’s amateur traditions.

Payments will reportedly be made after the Games and will depend on athletes complying with anti-doping rules and the Olympic Charter. That condition allows the IOC to link financial support to sporting integrity, while also giving the organization a mechanism to withhold payments from athletes who breach core rules.

The move is likely to be welcomed by many competitors, particularly those outside the highest-paid sports. A universal payment model means that a skier from a small delegation, a sprinter eliminated in the heats, and a global superstar would all receive the same basic support. In that sense, the reform represents a shift away from medal-only rewards and toward recognition of Olympic participation itself.

The announcement also follows growing debate over whether athletes should receive a larger share of Olympic revenues. Some sports bodies and national programs already offer medal bonuses, but those payments vary widely by country and discipline. The IOC’s new fund creates a baseline payment that applies across national borders, reducing some of the inequality between athletes from wealthy and less-resourced Olympic systems.

The policy could also reshape the politics of athlete representation. For years, competitors have argued that they are central to the Olympic product but have limited control over how revenue is distributed. By creating a direct payment system, the IOC is attempting to respond to those concerns while maintaining control over the structure and conditions of athlete compensation.

Still, the reform may not end the debate. Critics are likely to argue that $10,000 remains modest compared with the commercial scale of the Olympics, especially for athletes who spend years preparing for a single event. Others may question whether the grants should be larger, whether medalists should receive additional payments, or whether athletes should have broader rights to commercialize their Olympic appearances.

Even so, the symbolism is substantial. For 130 years, the Olympic movement presented direct athlete payment as incompatible with its traditions. That barrier has now been broken.

The Milano-Cortina competitors will become the first generation of Olympians to receive the new grant, setting a precedent that could redefine the relationship between the IOC, its revenues and the athletes who make the Games possible.