In 1960, decolonisation was in progress around the world, and with it, international aid was given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to developing countries through what would later become Olympic Solidarity.
In 1961, at the 58 th IOC Session, Count Jean de Beaumont, an IOC member from France, proposed the creation of a Committee that would aid countries in Africa and Asia, which had just gained independence. The proposal was unanimously accepted, and the Committee for International Olympic Aid (CIOA) was created. In 1968 the Committee became an IOC Commission, and kept the same name.
Then, in 1971, the CIOA was merged with a similar project initiated by the Permanent General Assembly of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Thus the Commission for Olympic Solidarity was born. Based in Rome until 1979, it pursued its activities with the support of the Italian Olympic Committee, moving to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne only in 1980. The IOC President at the time, Juan Antonio Samaranch, chaired the Commission from 1982 to 2001.
Its funding began to take shape in 1972. At that time, funds were very limited and were used for one- off projects proposed by different NOCs. However, the fact that financial aid was available to the NOCs was not widely known. It was only in 1984, with the increase in the television rights for broadcasting the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles, that the Olympic Solidarity budgets were established on a quadrennial plan basis. The NOCs could thus benefit from a fixed amount of annual assistance.
