Singapore and Moscow in David v Goliath Youth Games race
2008-02-20

Category Olympics Nations Russia Singapore City Moscow People Vladimir Putin

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday will announce the host city of its inaugural 2010 Youth Olympics, an event aimed at forging a new generation of Olympians.

The tiny city state of Singapore with hardly any Olympic success and the sprawling Russian capital Moscow, host of the 1980 Summer Games, are the only contenders for the teenagers' event from an initial field of 11 bidders.

IOC members will vote by post and the winner will be announced at 1100GMT (6:00 a.m. EST) in Lausanne.

The IOC last year approved a plan to stage summer and winter Youth Games -- the brainchild of IOC president Jacques Rogge -- to try and reverse the dwindling interest of teenagers in the movement and fight obesity among young people.

With the average age of television viewers of the Olympics increasing and youngsters turning away, the IOC has said it needs to change to secure its survival.

The Youth Games are designed for around 3,200 athletes aged 14-18 competing in 26 sports, with the first summer Games to take place in 2010 and the inaugural winter edition for about 1,000 athletes two years later.

"We want these young athletes to become better athletes, to become true Olympians," Rogge has said. "These Games must have a fun character, a festive character."

The summer Youth Olympics will have an overall price tag of about $30 million and the winter version will cost between $15 million to $20 million.

Some 800 judges, referees and delegation officials for the summer editions will also be young people.

The IOC has said the Youth Games could potentially be awarded to cities that do not have a capacity to stage Olympic Games due to size or financial constraints.

MOSCOW IS READY

Moscow, which has the backing of outgoing president Vladimir Putin, has hosted the 1980 Olympics as well as the 1998 World Youth Games which were under the auspices of the IOC.

Russia has also been awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi.

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said the city was ready for the event. "We have all the facilities already in place so we could host it right now as we speak," Luzhkov said recently.

Singapore officials on the other hand said the Games were a perfect fit for small cities.

"The ideas and values of the Youth Olympics are tailor-made for small cities. We're efficient, we're effective, we're multicultural," bid leader Teo Ser Luck told Reuters in an interview.

While there has been some criticism from broadcasters and media, even from within the Olympic movement, on the need of yet another global sports event, IOC officials have said U.S. broadcaster NBC is interested in the Youth Games.

(Editing by Miles Evans)