Olympic Solidarity Helpdesk

Olympic Solidarity aims at providing assistance to National Olympic Committees (NOCs), particularly those with the greatest needs, so that they can develop their own structures to foster the expansion of sport in their country. The IFSC Olympic Solidarity Helpdesk has the goal to provide IFSC National Federations with information about funding opportunities and create a system to support them in establishing prolific relationships with their NOCs and promote Sport Climbing within their country or territory.

The development and assistance budget approved by the Olympic Solidary Commission for the 2025-2028 plan amounts to USD 650 million, corresponding to the share of the broadcast rights from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026 that belongs to the NOCs. Olympic Solidarity redistributes these funds through programmes offered to all NOCs recognised by the IOC.

Olympic Games Universality: programmes for athletes

1. Olympic scholarships for athletes at LA28:

Athletes aiming to compete at the Olympic Games LA28 don’t all experience the same training and competition conditions. To help level the playing field by raising the bar for everyone, individual scholarships targeted at NOCs with traditionally smaller delegations provide monthly assistance to selected athletes, while NOCs with the largest delegations and well-established high-performance systems already in place can apply for lump-sum grants that afford greater flexibility in terms of implementation and reporting. To encourage gender parity, Olympic Solidarity will make gender-balanced allocations where possible. Thanks to the 2025-2028 budget increase, the number of individual scholarships per NOC has grown from 5 to 6.

2. Refugee Athlete Support:

Open to all NOCs whose countries host refugees, this programme seeks to identify high-level refugee athletes around the world and support them in their preparations for elite-level competitions. Reflecting the growing number of refugees and forcibly displaced persons across the globe, the budget for this programme has grown accordingly since the last four-year period. Financial and technical assistance is available for a limited number of refugee athletes through individual scholarships.

Entourage: programmes for coaches and officials

1. Technical courses for coaches and athletes’ entourage:

Coaches and other members of an athlete’s entourage play important roles in the development of an athlete. That’s why Olympic Solidarity offers entourage members, judges, technical officials and others a chance to take part in short-term training opportunities to strengthen their skills, knowledge and competencies. Sport-specific courses are available along with those that focus on cross-disciplinary topics such as physical conditioning, training scheduling and planning, mental preparation, nutrition, etc. When working closely with IFs, NOCs can increase the sport-specific technical knowledge and capabilities of coaches and entourage members within a country. The programme has been expanded to include a wider range of athletes’ entourage members and officials, including, potentially, esports coaches.

2. Olympic scholarships for coaches:

Continuing education is critical for coaches to stay abreast of all the latest changes and innovations in their field. National sports systems also stand to benefit from better standards of coaching. Financial support is available for coaches to upgrade their skills, knowledge and experience via training over several months at high-level training centres and universities. Three options are available: training in sports sciences, sport-specific training, and customised training options proposed by NOCs.

3. Athlete career transition:

All athletes eventually face a time where they have to move on from their sports. Olympic Solidarity provides NOCs with financial assistance to support athletes in the acquisition of skills, knowledge and opportunities to pursue successful postsports careers. A number of options are available, from educational and professional courses to enrolment in Athlete365 workshops, the Business Accelerator course in entrepreneurship, or master’s degree studies.

Sport development: programmes for National Federations development

1. Development of national sports systems:

NOCs whose basic sports structures and training systems are in need of improvement need not look any further, as this programme is designed to elevate everything from coaching and officials’ education systems to athlete development and performance pathways, good governance policies, sports medicine projects and more. Preference will be given to NOCs that demonstrate genuine potential for improvement in these fields.

2. Support grant for continental athletes:

To reach the upper echelons of their respective sports, sometimes all athletes require is a little help unlocking better training and competition experiences. This support grant offers continental athletes the opportunity to participate in training camps, pay for coaching costs, or cover the expenses involved in participating in elite competitions considered useful to their general training regime.

3. Youth athletes development:

The Youth Athlete Development programme offers NOCs assistance in identifying and training young athletes for youth competitions, as well as in supporting athletes selected to participate in qualification events for Summer and Winter Youth Olympic Games. NOCs have three options: technical and financial support for identifying and training young athletes; financial support for participating in YOG qualifying events; and variable-term training and competition opportunities organised by the IFs for a limited number of talented young athletes, and, in some cases, coaches and officials. Thanks to a 2025-2028 budget increase, new projects will target athletes in sports on the programme for the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, with particular focus on athletes from African NOCs.

For further information, please send an email to IFSC Research & Development Director Silvia Verdolini at development@ifsc-climbing.org.