The International Olympic Committee has given their approval on the sports program for the first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games. The Youth Olympic Games will be held 2010 in Singapore. Overall, there will be over 3500 athletes competing in 201 events, divided by age groups 15 to 16, 16 to 17 and 17 to 18. Over all there will be 26 sports represented, including judo, archery, athletics (relay), cycling, horse riding, pentathlon, tennis, swimming, fencing, basketball, football and the triathlon. Each event will be tailored slightly to match the age of the participant, and choices were made given the age and varied interests of the young athletes.
Qualifying for the Youth Olympic Games requires at least the top four youths from each National Olympic Committee to qualify and go on to the Youth Olympic Games. Over all, all 205 National Olympic Committees are participating with mixed gender results and bringing the chance for attending the Youth Olympics to many members of the younger generation. Qualification standard were prepared with close interaction between each of the International Federations, which is geared towards picking the top athletes in each age group. Qualification events include competitions like the Junior World Championships, Continental Championships or any other official junior ranking lists.
For the four team sports, football, handball, volleyball and hockey, they will be split into male and female leagues, and there will be one national team per continent plus a sixth to be determined by committee. Each National Olympic Committee is limited to two teams, one female and one male, and no more than 70 athletes for the individual competitions.
All of the sports programs will be complemented with an extensive and fun Cultural and Education Program, which hopes to extend the Olympian values and spirit to the young athletes, in addition to their roles as cultural ambassadors. It is also aimed towards promoting a healthy lifestyle, including exercise and diet, as well as the dangers of doping. The Cultural program in Singapore looks to be innovative and far reaching, and over all plans for the event are proceeding smoothly and steadily.
The 2012 Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Innsbruck and will feature the same kind of sports program. The Winter Youth Olympic Games will feature events in sport including biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing. The International Olympic Committee has opened up bidding for the 2014 Youth Olympics on December 19th, giving cities till February 9th to place their bids for hosting the event of 3500+ athletes aged from 14 to 18 years old. Events for each Youth Olympic Games will be picked from the matching Olympic program, and tailored to suit the age groups.
These new events from the International Olympic Committee will bring the Olympic spirit to youths all over the world, and hopefully will provide these youths and others watching the motivation to better themselves through regular exercise, a healthy diet and good, strong values. These events will be worth tuning into.
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Originally posted 2009-01-13 05:48:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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