Ottawa, ON -- (Sports Network) - The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) on Monday unveiled its new Athlete Excellence Fund, an athlete support and reward program that will provide Canadian athletes with performance awards of up to $20,000 per Olympic medal.

"This is the first time in its history that the Canadian Olympic Committee is providing performance awards to athletes who win Olympic medals," said COC president Michael Chambers. "We've taken the concept of excellence funding one step further, and are excited as this program demonstrates our commitment to athlete performance and rewarding excellence."

The Athlete Excellence Fund will follow a four-year cycle that will reward Canadian athletes for excellence. For the first three non-Olympic years of the cycle, athletes who place in the top five in years one or two, or top four in year three, will each receive $5,000.

Meanwhile, Olympic medals in year four will garner athletes $20,000, $15,000 or $10,000 for gold, silver or bronze, respectively. Athletes will receive the award for every medal they win at the Olympic Games, meaning multiple awards for multiple medal winners.

"Training for the Olympic Games can be a huge financial burden for athletes and their families," said Adam van Koeverden, two-Olympic medallist in sprint kayak. "Through this fund, the COC is recognizing that burden, and what an incredible asset more Olympic medals will be for our communities and for Canada."

The performance awards apply to all Olympic sports, and will be the same whether the athlete is from a team sport or an individual sport. For a medal- winning team sport, each member of the team will receive the performance award. Canadian athletes competing in Beijing in 2008 will be the first eligible to receive the Athlete Excellence Fund awards for winning Olympic medals.