Samuda backs IOC plan to pay Olympians up to US$10,000 each

Christopher Samuda, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), says the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) move to give direct financial support to Olympic competitors was entirely expected.

Under the Fit for the Future Olympian Grant, eligible athletes may receive as much as US$10,000. Samuda described the programme as consistent with the IOC’s wider aim of putting athletes at the heart of its development agenda.

The committee has earmarked US$140 million for each edition of the Games, with an estimated 14,000 Olympians likely to qualify per cycle.

In a statement issued earlier this week, Samuda said, “It is an extension of the IOC’s policy framework and, indeed, Olympism of placing athletes at the centre of development strategies and, therefore, it is not surprising at all.”

Unlike many major sporting events, the Olympic Games have never paid competitors for taking part in the Summer or Winter editions. That long-standing approach drew attention when World Athletics announced US$50,000 payments for gold medallists in its track and field programme at Paris 2024.

The IOC’s new funding model ends more than 130 years in which athletes were not paid through the Games themselves. Payments are due about six months after competition, subject to athletes passing doping controls and meeting Olympic Charter requirements.

Samuda said, “Athlete welfare and development historically and currently gain support through Olympic Solidarity scholarships and other IOC activations in collaboration with national Olympic committees, but this commendable move will facilitate athletes, once they have satisfied integrity and other stipulated criteria, to access direct funding, which is an outgrowth of the IOC’s policy framework.”

The release noted that the JOA had already taken steps on its own before the IOC announcement. “The JOA introduced direct funding several years ago, not only to athletes but coaches as part of our business development model, so we welcome this decision. It is an investment strategy in the human capital of sport that is, for us, non-negotiable.

“The athlete is the cornerstone of the sustainability of the infrastructure of sport around which the commercial, business, cultural, and social architecture of sport is built. Without the tools of trade in sport, the field of play will be barren,” the release said.