Issue date
Applications are open for athlete and team solidarity grants to help talented individuals train and prepare for the Olympic and Youth Games.
(Peter Burling and Blair Tuke celebrate winning Olympic gold in Rio with their coach Hamish Willcox. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing)
There are three opportunities now available from Olympic Solidarity in relation to the identification, qualification and preparation of athletes and teams to Olympic (Summer and Winter) and Youth Games and the links to application forms can be found here.
1. Team Support Grant
This programme offers financial and technical assistance on the preparation of teams hoping to qualify for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The assistance is offered to one team attempting to qualify for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games and one team attempting to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Activities for example can be for:
- Costs relating to the organisation of national or international training camps;
- Coaching and training costs for the team; and
- Cost relating to the organisation of friendly matches that are useful to the team’s general training programme.
Winter sports must complete an annual preparation project.
Summer sports must complete both a quadrennial plan and an annual plan.
These plans are then reviewed by Olympic Solidarity who will ascertain the amount of the grant once the plans are approved.
2. Youth Olympic Games – Athlete Support
Athlete support is available for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018. The objective of this funding is to allow national federations to identify, qualify and prepare young athletes to participate at the Buenos Aires 2018 Games.
The NZOC are looking to take the opportunity to offer sports that have completed an expression of interest, three potential Olympic Solidarity funding options for these games:
Option 1 - Identification:
Financial assistance for national federations to organise identification activities for young talent for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. The objective of this option is to detect potential participants as well as support different activities targeted and young and talented athletes.
Financial assistance for participation in qualification competitions for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games through the reimbursement of participation costs related to these events that have to be approved beforehand.
Financial assistance targeted at preparing already qualified athletes for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
Only one grant is available per option with a maximum of US$50,000 between the three options. Activities looking to be applied for under either of these options may only take place after 1 September 2017. No activities prior to 1 September 2017 will be available to be covered by this funding.
3. Tokyo 2020 Olympic Athlete Scholarships
We are pleased to announce that the Athlete Scholarships for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have now been released.
These scholarships are designed to assist athletes preparing and attempting to qualify for the Games.
The NZOC has the opportunity to apply, on behalf of national federations, for up to a maximum of 10 scholarships.
Athletes must have the following profile to be considered for a scholarship:
- Olympic sport: An international-level athlete practising an individual sport included on the Olympic programme and whose national federation are intending to express an interest in attending the Games to the NZOC.
- Minimum technical level: The athlete must have the technical level to be able to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games 18. Proof of the athlete’s technical sports level must be shown through results obtained at international competitions, recognised by the relevant international federations.
- Access to training funds: Only athletes to whom a scholarship will make a significant difference to their training, and who do not have access to alternative means of paying for their preparation, may be put forward.
- Ethics: Athletes who have been convicted of a doping offence or sanctioned for actions contrary to the standards of sporting ethics as established by the Olympic charter, the IOC or NZOC may not be put forward as scholarship candidates.
An Olympic scholarship offers a fixed monthly training grant to cover the athlete’s training and coaching costs, paid on a quarterly basis) subject to periodic reporting to the NZOC.
It is anticipated that the scholarships will commence on 1 September 2017 and go through to the end of the Games (unless terminated earlier in line with the IOC programme guidelines).
If your athletes are interested in applying for a scholarship, please have them fill in the application form, which then needs be signed and sent to the NZOC by the national federation. National federations nominating multiple athletes for scholarships must rank their order of preference on the priority form.
Applications
Applications for the above opportunities are linked above and should be completed by the national federation and returned to NZOC no later than 5.00pm Friday 21 April 2017. Late applications will not be accepted.
In relation to all of the above applications, these will be reviewed by the sport funding committee in early May 2017. The sport funding committee’s recommendations will then be sent to Olympic Solidarity for endorsement. It is likely this will be received in July 2017 at which time we will inform applicants of their success or otherwise. Please remember in your applications that Olympic Solidarity’s decision as to whether assistance can be offered within the context of this programme will depend on the following factors:
- Suitability of the profile of the athletes/team to be included in the activity;
- Relevance of the activities planned by the National Federation in relation to the objective of the programme; and
- Athlete(s)’ sporting ability and recommendations form relevant technical authorities (coaches, IFs, training centres etc.).
Accordingly, you should ensure these points are clearly covered in your applications.
Applications should be submitted by email: tara@olympic.org.nz or delivered to Olympic House, 350 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland.
Please do not hesitate to contact Tara if you have any queries or require further clarification on these programmes.
