The IOC is building an increasingly direct relationship with Olympic athletes. International Federations retain technical control over their sports, but the Lausanne-based organisation is concentrating more points of contact with athletes: funding, communication, representation, digital services, qualification and the Olympic experience.
The new Fit for the Future strategy provides the clearest example. From the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games onwards, every Olympian will be eligible to receive a direct grant of USD 10,000. For the first time, the IOC will provide money to every participant rather than limiting support to scholarships managed through National Olympic Committees or programmes aimed at specific groups.
On 7 July, the IOC also launched a consultation to strengthen its direct relationship with the global Olympian community. Its stated objective is to increase their sense of belonging and maintain that connection before, during and after the Games. The initiative expands a structure that already includes Athlete365, Olympian identification, training programmes, professional resources, mental health support and personalised communication.
The athlete becomes the strategic centre
Athletes create the value that holds the Olympic Movement together. Competitions, sponsors, audiences, federations and National Olympic Committees all depend on their participation. The IOC has decided to move closer to that source of value and reduce the institutional distance that has historically existed between Lausanne and those who compete.
The relevant question concerns the institutional relationship. Athletes belong only to themselves, but several organisations are competing to become their main point of reference. Whoever funds, communicates with, listens to, protects and supports athletes also gains the ability to shape their priorities and represent their interests.
For decades, International Federations occupied a privileged position within that chain. They regulated their sports and acted as the link between the IOC and the competitors. National Olympic Committees completed the process by preparing their delegations and taking them to the Games.
That model remains in place, although the IOC now controls more points along the pathway. Its Athletes’ Commission participates in Olympic decision-making; Athlete365 provides direct services; Olympic Solidarity funds preparation; and the new financial programme will provide resources to every Olympian. Contact no longer always needs to pass through a federation or a National Olympic Committee.
The federations retain control of the sport
The federations retain an essential authority. They draw up the rules, organise competitions, train officials, manage rankings and establish the sporting qualification pathways. The Olympic Charter continues to recognise that each federation designs its qualification system and submits it to the IOC Executive Board for approval.
The change affects their strategic position. A federation can retain full technical control over its discipline while losing part of its role as an institutional intermediary. The IOC can speak directly to athletes, fund them, provide them with tools and shape the Olympic experience without challenging who determines the rules of the sport.
Qualification illustrates this balance clearly. The federations prepare their systems, but the IOC establishes general principles, requires several opportunities to qualify, protects continental representation and ultimately approves each model. It has also created its own products, such as the Olympic Qualifier Series, which brings several disciplines together in a qualification event directly linked to the Olympic brand.
A redistribution without rupture
The strategy has a clear logic for the IOC. The Olympic Games are its main product, and athletes are the people who give them value. Any institution seeking to protect its future will look for a closer relationship with the people who sustain its activity.
The shift does not necessarily imply conflict with the federations. The IOC needs their technical expertise, competitions and international structures. The federations need the Games to retain visibility, funding and global relevance.
The relationship is changing because the IOC is no longer relying exclusively on them to reach the athlete. The new distribution of roles keeps the federations as the sporting authorities while strengthening Lausanne as the financial, communications and strategic centre of the system.
The transformation ahead of Los Angeles 2028 will depend on how those responsibilities are divided. The IOC may consolidate its position as the main institutional point of reference for Olympians, while the federations concentrate their authority on regulating and developing each sport. The federations will remain indispensable, but their value may increasingly lie in governing the sport and less in controlling the relationship between the athlete and the Olympic Games.
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