Half-billion dollar boost for refugee athletes, NOCs

As part of the next four-year plan of the Olympic Solidarity movement, the IOC agreed to increase the budget by 16 per cent for the period 2017-2020 to $509 billion.

A team of refugee athletes competed in Olympics for the first time in Rio Olympics.

Refugee athletes and cash-strapped national Olympic organisations were handed a half-billion dollar boost on Thursday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

As part of the next four-year plan of the Olympic Solidarity movement, the IOC agreed to increase the budget by 16 per cent for the period 2017-2020 to $509 billion.

The budget had been $439 billion for 2013-2019 with the updated figure corresponding to the share of the broadcast rights from the Olympic Games of Rio in 2016 and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.

As part of refugee athlete support, after a Refugee Olympic team competed for the first time in Rio, it was decided to create a dedicated programme that would provide national Olympic committees with the opportunity to identify and support a small number of refugee athletes living in their countries to prepare and participate in international competitions.

"This increase shows that the athletes remain at the heart of all our activity," said Pere Miro, the director of Olympic Solidarity.

"The huge worldwide success of the Olympic Games in Rio also means that the Olympic movement continues to enjoy a sound financial situation. This enables us to distribute more than half a billion dollars over the next four years to the national Olympic committees."