KUWAIT, March 31 (KUNA) -- An Olympic initiative which provides training scholarships to Olympic athletes in their discipline has "proved a success" judging from their results in the recent Sochi Winter Olympics, said International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.
At a speech he made at the opening of the Olympic Solidarity Commission meeting in Kuwait he said that as recipients of the two-year OSC-funded scholarships were winning medals at Sochi 2014, this was a very clear signal that these efforts were "on the right track".
Of the 76 National Olympic Committees, 71 qualified for Sochi 2014 and 244 of the 382 scholarship athletes qualified to take part in the Games. Of these, 10 won medals, comprised of four gold, one silver and five bronze medals.
In addition, 11 of the larger NOCs were given tailor-made scholarships to distribute at their discretion. Four of the 11 NOCs won a medal, comprised of three gold and one silver.
Japan NOC received this tailor-made grant and focused on four athletes, one of whom, Yuzuru Hanyu, won the menآ’s figure skating gold medal.
Hanyu is from Sendai, and his home ice rink was destroyed in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami; Japan NOC used the OSC scholarship to pay for him to train in Toronto, Canada, for two years.
Of 15 team support grants, 11 teams qualified for Sochi and one NOC won a bronze medal.
"I congratulate Sheikh Ahmad and all the members of this commission on the great success of the Sochi Winter Olympics and can only encourage you in this way," he added.
He added that, as time goes by more funding is being needed in order to support this initiative.
For his part, OSC Chairman Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah said the scholarship for winter sports athletes had proved to be a great success at Sochi.
"The roadmap proposed for this commission is going in the right direction and we will keep working to achieve the goals of Olympic Solidarity, IOC and the Olympic movement," said Sheikh Ahmad.
Following the meeting, the Director of the Olympic Solidarity Commission, Pere Miro, explained that three main topics had been discussed, namely to assess the results of scholarship recipients in the most recent Sochi Winter Olympics, media and communications assistance and budget issues pertaining to NOCs.
"Here today we have analysed the results of all those scholarship holders and I guess the results are very satisfactory for the members of the commission," added Miro, who is also the IOC National Olympic Committees Relations Director.
"It''''s not our objective but some of these athletes they got some medals in Sochi and we are very happy." The meeting also "approved a plan to support the NOCs to create their website for those who have not (got a website)" as around 45 NOCs in the world do not have a website and the commission hopes that they will all have one in a year''''s time.
The commission will also help some NOCs in creating a database containing information on athletes, coaches and officials, he added.
In conclusion, the commission discussed budgetary issues between NOCs and the IOC for the fiscal 2009/12 year, and "everybody has justified that the money they received has been used with high efficiency." (end) fs.sd