Singapore is putting in a bid to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
The Games will comprise a summer and winter meet just like the main Olympics, with the first YOG being held in 2010.
According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the purpose of the YOG is not to create a mini Olympic Games but to complement it, with a different character to the sporting event that will target youngsters aged between 14 and 18, adapted to the different sports.
The IOC has just published the bid procedure, questionnaire and event manual for the YOG and the Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sport (MCYS) said in a news release that the chance to host the event would be “a golden opportunity for Singapore”.
A multi-agency committee, comprising the MCYS, the Singapore Sports Council and Singapore National Olympic Council, has been formed to prepare Singapore’s bid.
An Evaluation Commission, under the guidance of the IOC, may visit the candidate cities between November and December this year before recommendations go before the IOC, which should make its decision by the end of February 2008.
The MCYS said Singapore’s young, small, multi-cultural nation will be an ideal site to fulfil the objectives of the Youth Olympic Games as conceptualised by the IOC and it wants to host talented young athletes from all over the world to celebrate diversity, friendship and hope for a better future through the promotion of the Olympic ideals.
The idea to organise the Youth Olympic Games was conceived in mid-2007 and approved by the IOC just last month, to boost the interest in sport among the young and to inculcate Olympic values.
The Summer and Winter Youth Games will alternate every four years, with the Summer events being staged in the years of the Olympic Winter Games and vice versa.
Drawing parallels to events such as the European and Australian Youth Olympic Festivals, the IOC estimates that there could be some 3,000 participants for the Summer YOG and 1,000 for the winter counterpart.
The YOG should further fuel Singapore’s plans for a Sports Hub, which is set to be ready by 2011, just one year away from the YOG’s 2010 date.
Located in Kallang just off Marina Bay, the Sports Hub will be Singapore’s first fully integrated sports, entertainment and lifestyle centre, with plans for a multi-purpose indoor arena, an indoor Aquatic Centre cum Water Leisure Centre for up to 6,000 spectators and a new National Stadium with a retractable roof.
It has already drawn a number of bids, with one bid revealed early this year for a horse-shoe shaped National Stadium with retractable roof and field, to allow for water-based sporting events to also take place in the stadium.
Singapore’s original National Stadium closed its doors over a month ago to make way for the redevelopment. – CNA/sf
Channel News Asia
