World governing body, World Triathlon notes that the road to the Olympic Games is rarely straightforward, requiring great effort and great sacrifice.
In order to support athletes, World Triathlon has approved a support fund of US$100,000. This will provide financial assistance to those athletes from national federations with the greatest needs in order to help them compete at Continental and World level over the Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Period.
A total of 23 athletes and para athletes from 11 different countries (Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine) will receive US$3,000 each to help them cover the expenses of travel to the qualifying events.
The remaining US$31,000 of the overall fund will be allocated at the end of June and distributed among the same 23 athletes, but considering the number and length of journeys that the athletes made over the period.
“As an organization, we are committed to supporting our athletes in every possible way,” said World Triathlon President and IOC member, Marisol Casado.
“The pandemic has had a massive impact not only on their access to training and competitions, but also to travel and resources. Establishing these types of funds will be a big help to some of them on their road to Tokyo.
“It is our duty to provide opportunities to race and compete, but it is also our duty to work closely with national federations and national Olympic and Paralympic committees to identify the specific needs of athletes and try to help and continue supporting them throughout their road to the Olympics or Paralympics.
She added, “I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Coaches Committee for the initiative and my fellow Executive Board members for their unanimous support of this program.”
World Triathlon received 28 applications for the funds from 14 different nationalities, most of them from athletes currently competing at the top level to try to qualify for either the Olympic or the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this summer.
In order to receive the funds, athletes needed to be registered and in good standing with their national federations and have shown the ability to race at a high standard in Continental and World Triathlon level competitions.
A selection panel, drawn from the Executive Board, carefully reviewed all the applications. This is the list of successful candidates:
- Azerbaijan: Kseniia Levkovska
- Azerbaijan: Rostyslav Pevtsov
- Brazil: Ronan Nunes Cordeiro
- Brazil: Jessica Moreira Ferreira
- Brazil: Jorge Camargo Fonseca
- Brazil: Carlos Fonseca Viana
- Chile: Diego Moya
- Chile: Gaspar Riveros
- Chile: Bárbara Riveros
- Colombia: Naiver Ome
- Colombia: Carlos Javier Quinchara Forero
- Colombia: Lina Maria Raga Prieto
- Ecuador: Elizabeth Bravo
- Morocco: Mehdi Essadiq
- Morocco: Badr Siwane
- Philippines: Marion Kim Mangrobang
- South Africa: Simone Ackermann
- South Africa: David Kenneth Jones
- South Africa: Gillian Caroline Sanders
- Tunisia: Ons Lajili
- Tunisia: Fethi Zouinkhi
- Turkey: Uğurcan Özer
- Ukraine: Yuliya Yelistratova
