The COA has already secured heavyweight backing for its bid with the appointment of Vero Communications as the lead adviser. Vero, headed by chairman Mike Lee, has a strong pedigree in Olympic circles, playing key roles in London and Rio de Janeiro’s successful bids for the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games, respectively. Vero also stood behind PyeongChang as it secured the 2018 Winter Olympics. Other cities to have announced their bid for the 2018 Youth Games include Monterrey, Mexico; Medellin, Colombia; Abuja, Nigeria; and Kaspiysk, Russia. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to choose the host city in June 2013.
“We believe that Buenos Aires would be an excellent host city for this exciting new addition to the Olympic sports calendar,” said Werthein. “Our aim is help spread the positive values of Olympism amongst young people in Argentina, South America and across the world. We are delighted that Mike Lee and Vero will be working with us. Mike and his team have a great track-record and have been at the heart of several successful Olympic and sporting campaigns. It is a great start to our bid.”
While Singapore staged the inaugural Summer Youth Games in 2010, the Austrian city of Innsbruck opened the first Winter Games on Friday with IOC president Jacques Rogge stating his wish for the event to bring new sports and formats to the traditional Olympics. Innsbruck 2012 will feature seven sports currently on the Winter Olympic programme, including three new events: women’s ski jumping, ski half-pipe and snowboard slope-style. After their success at Singapore 2010, mixed-gender and mixed-country events will also form part of the programme, with a mixed Alpine skiing parallel team event and mixed-country short track skating team relay. In addition, mixed-sport events, such as cross-country biathlon, will be introduced for the first time.
“We need to rejuvenate,” said Rogge at Innsbruck’s opening ceremony. “We need to adapt to the wishes of the youths and not stay too conservative.” Events like ski halfpipe and women’s ski jumping have already been included in the programme for Sochi’s 2014 Winter Games. The latter fought a highly publicised, and ultimately unsuccessful, legal battle for inclusion at Vancouver 2010. Rogge added: “They were not ready in Vancouver, but will be in Sochi 2014. It’s of symbolic significance that they start here at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. There will be a lot of attention for that competition.”
Innsbruck 2012 is scheduled to finish on January 22 and will feature more than 1,000 athletes aged between 15 and 18. The Youth Olympics have been a pet project of Rogge and he is convinced the initiative is set for a successful future. “We have 70 nations competing here, which is a great figure for Winter Olympics,” Rogge stated. “The idea to combine sports with education and culture has proven itself in Singapore as appealing to athletes, but also coaches and officials. I believe in this idea to give education to athletes at an age where they are very receptive to that.”