April 16, 2012 – The second edition of the Olympic Solidarity scholarship program for Sochi 2014 has been launched following the success of the first edition in 2010, through which 325 athletes were assisted to prepare and qualify for the Games in Vancouver. The Program guidelines and application forms have now been sent to the NOCs with the deadline of 31st August 2012 for submitting applications to Olympic Solidarity to be included in 1st batch of allocations (starting on 1st November 2012). The 2nd batch of scholarships will be activated on 1st March 2013.

The Olympic Solidarity scholarship program is designed to improve the competitiveness of the Olympic Winter Games rather than to expand artificially the universality of these Games. As such, access is only offered to NOCs that have a strong winter sports tradition who can present athletes having a proven winter sports record and technical level. The athletes proposed for an Olympic scholarship by their NOCs must have an adequate technical level to allow them to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games. Olympic Solidarity has requested the International Federations inform their National Associations about the Olympic Solidarity Athlete Scholarships for Sochi 2014 and that applications may only be submitted by their NOC. For more information, click HERE.