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

9 October 2019: Global Athlete recognizes the recent announcement of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to provide their athletes more earning potential. “This is a positive led initiative by the USOPC Athlete Advisory Council to unlock their earning potential but more needs to be done,” said Noah Hoffman, an American member of the Global Athlete Start-Up Group.

It is time for the International Olympic Committee and the Association of National Olympic Committees to mandate all National Olympic Committees to relax Rule 40 to ensure a level playing field.

As stated previously, the IOC has the ability to pass a resolution through its partnership with the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to 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.

Now that there is movement, we can’t stop here! Athletes are the ones that provide the entertainment, and, as a result more needs to be done to compensate them for their work.

Global Athlete calls on all athletes to demand change and demand equal rights with their competitors.