Olympian Scholarship

Origins and purpose

FICS established the World Olympian Scholarship Program in 2001 following the Sydney 2000 Games. It created a pathway for Olympians to continue their involvement in sport through chiropractic education and to pass their experience and knowledge to other athletes.

FICS’ published program account records six Olympian graduates, with recipients from Jamaica, Australia, Canada and the United States, who went on to care for patients, including fellow Olympians. Its June 2021 update separately recorded six scholarships in place and partnerships with nine institutions.

Connections across the Olympic community

The idea for the World Olympians Association was introduced at the IOC Centennial Congress in 1994; the organisation was founded in 1995. In 2003, it opened offices in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and America. Explore the World Olympians Association’s history.

The FICS program history describes the Americas office at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, led by Liston Bochette, serving a region from Canada through South America and the Caribbean. Its work addressed matters including health care, education and training. The team included Jose Rodriguez, whose sporting work spanned the Pan American and Olympic Games, including Atlanta 1996.

These relationships helped FICS send chiropractors to events including the Pan American Games, the 2001 Mediterranean Games, Central American and Caribbean Games, and Bolivarian Games.

People who helped build the program

Dr Jimbo Haley competed in modern pentathlon at Barcelona 1992 and later worked with the WOA in Miami. Henrietta Onodi, whom he met at those Games, also worked with the organisation. She won vault gold and floor-exercise silver at Barcelona 1992 and competed again at Atlanta 1996.

Jamaican Olympian Neil Gardner also worked within the Olympic movement. Both Gardner and Haley pursued chiropractic education through the FICS scholarship program.

Liston Bochette served as WOA Secretary General and represented Puerto Rico at the Olympic Games. An artist as well as an athlete, he also supported Olympian art and established a museum in Fort Myers, Florida. He arranged opportunities for Dr Tom Hyde and Dr Angela Salcedo to present the scholarship program at international meetings, including in Switzerland and the Pan American region.

Dr Jay Greenstein took over stewardship of the program from Dr Hyde. From 2017, Greenstein, Salcedo and fellow commission members worked to develop the university partnerships described in FICS’ program history.

The Canadian pathway

In 2019, the work and connections of Dr Brian Seaman, liaison from the RCCSS(C), helped establish a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Olympic Committee to promote the 50% scholarship at CMCC in Toronto and support athletes moving beyond competitive sport.

The historical account records a request to increase the award to full coverage, alongside the space and financial constraints that limited that proposal. It also mentions CMCC’s separate 50% Indigenous Student Scholarship. CMCC publishes its current award conditions on its entrance scholarships page.