Athlete-led Movement encourages IOC to ensure all National Olympic Committees follow the lead of the German and Australian National Olympic Committee in relaxing Rule 40 for all Olympic Athletes

29 July 2019: As a starting point for increased athlete rights concerning Rule 40, Global Athlete recognizes the recent announcement of the Australian Olympic Committee to provide their athletes more earning potential. This is a positive step forward by the Australian Olympic Committee towards the impressive work of Athleten Deutschland in leading the way for relaxing Rule 40.

The initial steps the IOC has taken to relax Rule 40 – in response to growing encouragement from the international athlete community and Global Athlete - is a stepping stone for further athlete rights but does not go far enough.  Global Athlete will continue to advocate for Athletes’ rights and call on the IOC Leadership to level the playing field by ensuring all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) adopt a relaxed Rule 40. The recent changes to the IOC Charter do not go far enough to ensure all NOCs offer the same flexibility to athletes globally. Global Athlete eagerly awaits more details and principles from the IOC regarding its Rule 40 changes to level the playing field and to increase earning potential for athletes globally (as can be seen from the attached image of the Rule 40 change).

“I believe this is a positive step for Australian Athletes. The majority of Australian Athletes struggle to earn a living from their sport while others gain enormously from their performance. It’s time for change and further enhancement of athletes’ earning potential,” said Rachael Sporn, Australian member of the Global Athlete Start Up Group.

Furthermore, Olympic athletes across the world are eagerly waiting for the principles that the IOC promised to deliver to all NOCs earlier this month. We hope these principles provide more earning potential for athletes.

We strongly believe the IOC has the ability to pass a resolution through its partnership with the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to easily adopt a rule that all NOCs must afford their athletes their rightful earning potential.  Any rule that is proposed must have athlete involvement; indeed, athletes would welcome and expect such engagement.

The Olympics is meant to represent a level playing field, yet that level playing field is only possible with unified rules.

Global Athlete calls on all athletes to demand change and demand equal rights with their competitors. Athletes are the ones that bring in the revenues, and so it is only right that athletes should be the ones being compensated and having their earning potential maximized.