World Athletics launches Athletes Relief Fund

World Athletics says Olympic-bound professional athletes must have clean anti-doping records to be eligible for a one-off grant aimed at assisting them financially during the Covid-19 crisis. The sport's governing body says athletes will have until May 31 to register for the grant from a US $500,000 fund jointly set up by World Athletics and the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) to support competitors whose incomes have been hit.

Athletes who have qualified for the Tokyo Games by meeting the entry standard will also be eligible. President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe also revealed in an exclusive interview with TVJ Sports on Friday that athletes whp are in the top six of the world rankings, have reached a certain point in prize money and those who have welfare systems in place will not be eligible.

The application process opened on Friday and a multi-regional working group chaired by Coe will assess the applications which will be submitted through the six area associations. Athletes are expected to start receiving the grants at the beginning of June. The full interview with Lord Coe will be aired on TVJ next Tuesday at 8:30 pm.