IOC Olympic Solidarity Athlete Scholarship Programme

Ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the IOC offered 449 individual scholarships to athletes from 90 different NOCs across six winter sports, and 249 of those scholarship-holders went on to qualify for the Games, representing over half of all scholarship recipients and athletes from 74 NOCs across five continents. A parallel programme runs for every edition of the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympic Games, meaning eligible athletes preparing for future Games (including Los Angeles 2028) can also apply through their NOC.

Scholarships are not applied for directly by the athlete through a public portal; instead, each athlete's National Olympic Committee nominates candidates to Olympic Solidarity based on performance level, Olympic qualification potential, and financial need, and the IOC's Olympic Solidarity Commission approves the awards. Monthly financial support is disbursed to help cover living costs during training, and depending on the athlete's individual needs the scholarship can also fund coaching fees, sports equipment, accommodation at high-performance centres, and competition/travel costs during the qualification period.

Because Olympic Solidarity scholarships are administered NOC-by-NOC, the correct first step for a Pakistani or other international athlete is to contact their own National Olympic Committee (in Pakistan's case, the Pakistan Olympic Association) to ask about nomination criteria and internal selection timelines, rather than applying to the IOC directly.