The money, approved by the ANOCA Executive Committee, will be distributed among African athletes who qualify for Rio 2016 for training and preparatory purposes. 

It will be allocated through the National Olympic Committees with the aim of increasing the number of medals won by continental athletes. 

“The ANOCA Executive Committee meeting agreed to set aside this money as we seek to improve the results of African sportsmen and women during the Rio 2016 Olympic games,” Palenfo told delegates at the ANOCA General Assembly in Port Louis, Mauritius.

An ANOCA Rio 2016 Commission is to be set up in order to identify athletes to support, with Cameroon's Confederation of African Athletics President Kalkaba Malboum acting as chair.

He will be joined by three International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in Kenya's former marathon world record holder Tergat. Ethiopia's Badminton World Federation vice-president Dagmawit Girmay Berhane and Nigerian Olympic Committee head Habu Gumel.

Also present will be Morocco's El Guerrouj, the 1500 and 5,000 metres champion at Athens 2004 who remains world record holder over the shorter distance, and Myriam Moyo and Boussayene Mehrez, repective heads of the Olympic Committee of Zambia and the Tunisian Olympic Committee.

“This is a big thing and a step in the right direction," Tergat told the International Sport Press Association.

"During my time I never received funding for my training prior to the Olympics.

"This will certainly boost performance,”

Ten African countries won medals at London 2012: Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.

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