Olympic athletes can now apply for $10,000 cash grants from a new fund created by the International Olympic Committee, which will set aside $140 million each four-year Olympic cycle.

Athletes from any country who compete in the summer or winter Olympics are eligible to apply for the grant within six months of competition, regardless of how they performed at the Games, provided they have not tested positive for doping or otherwise violated the Olympic charter. Olympians who competed at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games will be the first to benefit from the new fund, followed by athletes at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry announced the initiative at the organization's annual strategy meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday, June 24, one year after she took office.

"We found a way to directly support all Olympians, and that is a priority," Coventry said. "I think part of what we do in this movement is we pave the way forward for those that are coming behind us."

Former NBA star Pau Gasol, chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, said that athletes will apply for the grant through the IOC's existing online business platform called Athlete365.

"We're showing the athletes that we are thinking of them and that we're going above and beyond to make sure that they're receiving as much value as we can give them," Gasol said. "They are the heart of our movement."

The IOC does not award prize money at the Olympics, though some countries choose to pay athletes for medal wins. Coventry faced backlash from athletes earlier this year for saying she opposed paying prize money, but on Wednesday said she'd been working on this initiative since she assumed the presidency.

Olympians can use the grant money to continue their sports careers or transition to another career. If an athlete chooses not to apply for the grant, that money will remain in the fund to be available for other Olympians.

The grant will be available even to athletes in sports like men's soccer and basketball who make lucrative salaries from their careers, Gasol said.

The IOC's Olympic Solidarity program, which already provides scholarships to athletes from less wealthy countries, will manage distribution of the grants. Coventry said the IOC arrived at the $10,000 figure by doubling the $5,000 scholarship typically allotted to athletes for each Olympic qualification event.

The fund is not available to athletes in the Paralympic movement, which is governed separately by the International Paralympic Committee.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: IOC launches $10,000 cash grant fund for every Olympic athlete