Youth Olympic Games
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The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event first held in Singapore from August 14 to August 26 2010. The games are planned to be held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format.[1] The Youth Olympic Games will feature athletes between the ages of 14 and 18.[2] The idea for such an event was introduced by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge in 2001.[3] On July 6, 2007, IOC members at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City approved the creation of a youth version of the Olympic Games.[4]
While the August 2010 event is scheduled for 12 days; the winter version is planned to be a maximum of nine days, with the first edition taking place in early 2012.[5][6] The IOC will allow a maximum of 3,500 athletes and 875 officials to participate at the summer games,[7] while 970 athletes and 580 officials are expected at the winter games.[4]
Several other Olympic events for youth, like the European Youth Olympic Festival held every other year with summer and winter versions, and the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, have proven successful; the Youth Games would most likely be modelled after these.[3] The YOG are a successor to the discontinued World Youth Games.
Requirements of host cities
It has been stressed that the host city should not have to build any major venues, with the exception of some temporary structures or possibly an Olympic village. Also, all competitions must be held in the host city, ruling out any joint bids. According to bid procedures, the track and field stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies must hold 10,000 people, and a city must have a 2,500-seat aquatics facility (for Summer editions).
Education and culture are also key components for this Youth edition. Not only does the education/culture aspect apply to athletes and participants, but also youth around the world and inhabitants of the host city and surrounding regions. Multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-age requirements are the targets of the program which stress the themes of "Learning to know, learning to be, learning to do, and learning to live together."
Each participating country would send at least four athletes. 170 countries are expected to participate in the inaugural 2010 Youth Summer Olympics. (There are over 204 National Olympic Committees, most of which participate at the regular Games). Participants will be grouped by age, for example, 14–18 years. One source indicates athletes will be chosen at least 18 months in advance, which suggests that some could be chosen as young as age 12. Other reports indicates the qualifications (which guidelines are being set in autumn of 2008) will occur between December 2009 and May 2010. At least one IOC member criticized the plan, noting that smaller teams from all countries may fail to capture the interest of the media, nations, and the athletes themselves.
Financing
The original estimated costs were $30 million for the summer and $15 million to $20 million for winter games, primarily for infrastructure and lodging. The IOC will pay travel costs to the host city and room and board for the athletes and judges, estimated costs at $11 million. The funding will come from IOC funds and not revenues.
The budgets for the final two bids for the inaugural Summer Games came in at $75 million (Singapore) and $175 million (Moscow), much higher than the estimated costs. Bids with lower budgets were eliminated early in the process. Budgets for the inaugural Winter Games were more in line, with a range of $22 million for Innsbruck and $14 million for Kuopio. It has been stated the IOC will "foot the bill" for the Youth Games, but whether or not they will pay the first $15–30 million is as of yet unclear. The cost of the first games in Singapore escalated to an estimated S$387 million (US$284 million).[8]
Differences from the main Olympic Games
The sports contested at these games will be the same as those scheduled for the traditional Games, but with a limited number of disciplines and events. Of the 26 sports, the IOC plans, for example, not to include the water polo and synchronized swimming disciplines of aquatics, as well as the slalom discipline of canoeing on the schedule of events. The basketball competition may be "streetball", in which games are held outside and sometimes with fewer players. The cycling disciplines are mountain bike and BMX, and road and track cycling were left off the schedule. Baseball and softball were also not included on the list of sports. Other youth-driven sports may eventually be contested if backed by international sports federations. In November 2007, it was revealed that pentathlon will be included, as well as sailing, giving an edge to candidate cities near water.
The Winter edition will contest seven sports. Luge, bobsled and skeleton are possible casualties considering the small number of worldwide venues and restrictions in building new venues. In the bidding for the first edition, one bid city was nevertheless planning to construct a bobsled/sleigh run (Harbin), while another was not offering bobsled as an event (Kuopio).
List of Youth Olympic Games
In early November 2007, Athens, Bangkok, Singapore, Moscow, and Turin were selected by the IOC as the five candidate cities among which the host city will be elected for the Inaugural Games. In January 2008, the candidates were further pared down to just Moscow and Singapore. Finally, on 21 February 2008, Singapore was declared host of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games 2010 via live telecast from Lausanne, Switzerland, winning by a tally of 53 votes to 44 for Moscow. Singapore is contesting all 26 sports.
On 2 September 2008 IOC announced that the IOC executive board had shortlisted four cities among the candidates to host the first Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012. The four candidate cities were Harbin in China, Innsbruck in Austria, Kuopio in Finland and Lillehammer in Norway. IOC president Jacques Rogge appointed Pernilla Wiberg to chair the commission which analysed the projects. As with the Summer Games, the list was then shortened to two finalists, Innsbruck and Kuopio, in November 2008. On December 12, 2008, it was announced that Innsbruck beat Kuopio to host the games. Nanjing, China was selected by the IOC over Poznan, Poland to be the host-city of the 2014 Youth Olympics. The election was held on February 10, 2010, 2 days before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The selection of the host for the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics has been marked by the fact that there is only one candidate city, Lillehammer in Norway.
Summer games
| Year | Olympiad | Games | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | XXIX | 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games |  Singapore
|
| 2014 | XXX | 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games |  Nanjing
|
| 2018 | XXXI | 3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games | TBA |
Winter games
| Year | Olympiad | Games | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | XXX | 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games |  Innsbruck
|
| 2016 | XXXI | 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games | TBA |
See also
- World Youth Games
- International Children's Games (ages 12-15)
References
- ^ "FIS in favor of Youth Olympic Games". FIS. 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- ^ "No kidding: Teens to get Youth Olympic Games". USA Today. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
- ^ a b "Rogge wants Youth Olympic Games". BBC Sport. 2007-03-19. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
- ^ a b "IOC Session: A "go" for Youth Olympic Games". International Olympic Committee. 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ "Youth Olympic Games" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "IOC to Introduce Youth Olympic Games in 2010". 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
- ^ "1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010" (pdf). International Olympic Committee Department of Communications. 2007. p. 8. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Cost of Youth Games goes up three-fold", Today, 7 July 2010. "With 38 days left to the opening ceremony at The Float@Marina Bay on Aug 14, it will now cost $387 million to stage the Games, up from its original estimate of $122 million during the Games’ bid phase, before Singapore was named host by the International Olympic Committee in February 2008 after a keen tussle with Moscow."
External links
- Youth Olympic Games – official site
- Singapore 2010 – official site
- Innsbruck 2012 – official site
- Nanjing 2014 – official site
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