Podium Athlete Grant

One of the main initiatives of the Brazil Medals Plan was to implement the Podium Athlete Grant, established by Law No 12,396 from 16 March 2011. The Podium Grant is a new category of the Athlete Grant Programme and is aimed at supporting athletes who have a chance of competing in the finals and thus, win Olympic and Paralympic medals. the Podium Grant awards vary between R$ 5 and R$ 15 thousand.

In order to qualify for the grant, the athlete has to comply with criteria established by the law, like being among the top 20 in the world ranking, or in a specific event. After meeting the criteria and being appointed by their sport confederation, together with the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) or Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), the athlete has to submit a sport plan to be assessed by members of the Ministry of Sport, COB (or CPB) and the confederation. After being approved in all fronts, the athlete's name is published in the Federal Official Gazette.

Once approved, the athlete is entitled to the benefit for 12 months and after this period undergoes a reassessment process in order to establish whether he/she should remain in the programme.

Paralympic athletes were the first to submit sport plans for assessment and thus, were the first to be approved. Therefore, on 2 August 2013, President Dilma Rousseff played host to a delegation of CPB athletes at the Presidential Palace in Brasilia and announced the first beneficiaries of the Podium Athlete Grant. In October 2015, 242 athletes were being sponsored.