Badminton had its debut at the 1992 Summer Olympics and has been contested in 4 Olympiads. 50 different nations have appeared in the Olympic badminton competitions, with 19 appearing all 4 times.
Since its introduction the BWF has collaborated closely with Olympic Solidarity (OS) on a variety of programmes designed to grow badminton around the world.
Through Olympic Solidarity, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) works with athletes, coaches, sports administrators, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations to support the worldwide development of all sport. Olympic Solidarity is the part of the IOC that distributes television income from the Olympic Games to the NOCs.
Olympic Scholarships
The Olympic Scholarship programme was established to assist athletes nominated by their respective NOCs in their preparation for future Olympic Games. Badminton Oceania recommends talented young players for consideration by OS and helps in their assessment of applications received.
The Beijing programme has now been superseded by Olympic scholarships for Athletes “London 2012”
2012 – Training Grants for Young Athletes
The objective of this programme is to identify talented younger athletes who have demonstrated a good standard at international level (and who have a good chance of participating at a future Olympic Games) and provide them with the opportunity of high-level training.
Under this programme, NOCs may also receive a budget from OS to help talented young athletes based in that country to continue their training in their own country.
Technical Courses
The objective of this programme is to offer training for coaches in all Olympic Sports. OS will only support courses that follow a structure utilising approved International Federation syllabi (eg Level 1, Level 2 etc.). In addition, OS also supports regional courses. It is important for National Associations wishing to hold national Level 1 and Level 2 courses to approach their NOCs directly to apply for funding as each year the NOCs will receive a budget for “national” technical courses.
Scholarships for Coaches
The objective of this programme is to offer coaches the possibility of receiving high-level training outside of their respective countries. These scholarships will provide the opportunity for coaches to receive training in Sports Sciences or short-term sports specific training at high-level training centres or sports universities worldwide. The scholarships can cover training for between one and six months.
Development of a National Coaching Structure
This programme was established to help a specific sport to develop a national coaching structure. It provides funding to NOCs to enable their National Associations to employ an experienced foreign coach on a mid- to long-term basis (up to one year) to help them set up a national development plan and coaching structure.
On all of the programmes, it is important for National Associations to continue to build and maintain good relations with their National Olympic Committees and that they discuss with them on a regular basis the possibility of badminton benefiting from some of the above mentioned programmes.
For further information on Olympic Solidarity, please download the attached information sheet.