Monday 10 / February / 2025
Muscat: Athletes representing Oman at regional and international sporting events are to be provided with ‘exceptional’ support programmes by various stakeholders, according to the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC).
The news from the OOC comes after the organisation succeeded in securing from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) nine training and development grants for Omani athletes taking part in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The grants were issued under the International Olympic Solidarity Programme which normally issues five grants to athletes from countries that have sent 70 or lesser athletes to the previous Olympic Games.
However, this time, the OOC received more grants on account of its desire to support the largest number of deserving athletes and provide them the preparation required to do well at the Olympics.
“It is fortunate that the OOC succeeded in obtaining this important number of grants within the Olympic Solidarity Programme,” said the Omani government organisation.
“This coincides with the formation of the sub-committees as part of which the High Level Sports and Olympic Planning Committee was created, which will work in effective partnership with the Olympic Solidarity Committee.
“One of the priorities of the newly created committee will be the development of a system for classifying high-level athletes, including the criteria for enjoying Olympic Solidarity grants,” said OOC.
“This will enable concerted efforts, pool the available capabilities under one roof and rationalise their use so that this programme is the unified national reference for classifying athletes, and targeting them with ‘exceptional’ support programmes that may be provided by various stakeholders.”
The IOC has set a set of qualitative standards at continental and international level that have been adopted as a condition for obtaining support. Eligible athletes must have the technical levels that enable them to qualify for the Olympic Games, with their abilities proven through the results achieved in national and international competitions, alongside the practice undertaken for any individual sport at international level.
Furthermore, the sport in which the athletes seeking grants are taking part must be included in the Summer Olympics, and they must make sure that they adhere to the standards of sports ethics in accordance with the Olympic Charter and IOC, as well as to the Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency, while ensuring they have not been convicted for violation of anti-doping rules.
IOC has allocated financial support to the nine players for a programme to prepare them to take part in qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This support will continue until August 2024, before the start of the Olympic Games.
There will also be continuous follow-up of the technical levels of the nine players under the preparation plans, through established executive programmes from their federations and sports committees, technical reports and results achieved at the Arab, continental and international levels.
This support can also be used to qualify the players technically through local or regional qualification centres, in addition to the possibility of using high-level coaches by the relevant sports federations and committees to qualify the selected players in their respective sports. IOC, in coordination with the sports federations and committees, seeks to benefit from these grants by providing all the facilities for training, and allocating qualified and specialised trainers to train these players with the aim of raising their technical levels to achieve the desired results that enable them to participate at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Olympic Solidarity Committee of the IOC provides four support programmes to NOCs every four years, according to a budget allocated for this purpose.
These programmes include support for athletes, assistance for coaches, programmes to support Olympic values and activities for the management of NOCs and knowledge exchange.
OOC is keen to benefit from these programmes, which aim to refine and qualify national technical and administrative personnel for their benefit and growth and enhance their capabilities in sports.
