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Coronavirus in sport: World Athletics creates fund to help athletes

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who also chairs the IAF, said the fund would be used to assist athletes who have lost most of their income in the last few months due to the suspension of international competition.

Sebastian Coe

Bengaluru, April 28: The World Athletics, together with the International Athletics Foundation (IAF), launched a $500,000 fund to support professional athletes experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who also chairs the IAF, said the fund would be used to assist athletes who have lost most of their income in the last few months due to the suspension of international competition while the world combats the global health emergency.

Established in 1986 to support charitable causes involving athletics, the International Athletics Foundation, under the Honorary Presidency of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, has allocated resources from its budgets for 2020 and 2021 to assist athletes in need through this process.

Coe will chair an expert multi-regional working group to assess the applications for assistance, which will be submitted through World Athletics' six Area Associations.

The members include -- Olympic champion and 1,500M world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj, Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi (representing the WA Athletes' Commission), WA Executive Board members Sunil Sabharwal (Audit Committee) and Abby Hoffman, WA Council members Adille Sumariwalla, Beatrice Ayikoru and Willie Banks, IAF Executive Committee member and former WA treasurer Jose Maria Odriozola and Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines President Keith Joseph.

The working group will meet soon to establish a process for awarding and distributing grants to individual athletes and to look at other ways to raise additional monies for the fund.

Coe said it was important that the sport supported its athletes most in need during the current circumstances.

"Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we're mindful that our competition season, on both the track and road, is being severely impacted by the pandemic. We're hopeful that we'll be able to stage at least some competition later this year, but in the meantime we'll also endeavour, through this fund and additional monies we intend to seek through the friends of our sport, to help as many athletes as possible," the double Olympic gold medallist said.

Many competitions including Tokyo Olympics 2020 were rescheduled due to the novel coronavirus.

(Source: Word Athletics Media)

Story first published: Tuesday, April 28, 2020, 16:30 [IST]
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