Rogge wants bigger YOG
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With only one day left for the conclusion of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games(YOG), International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge expressed his hope to see a bigger Games in Nanjing.
Meanwhile, the Nanjing organizing team has pledged to stage the second edition of YOG with expanded Culture and Education Programme (CEP) activities.
Rogge sat down with 205 athletes nominated to represent the participating countries and regions in a question-and-answer session on Wednesday to hear feedback and discuss general feelings about the inaugural event in Singapore.
Rogge thanked them for their contribution to making the event a success. "The YOG was a great success and you made it that way by participating in your sports at such a high level," he said.
"We want to foster all these ideas for the next YOG. Every four years it will go to another city and they will improve the quality of the event. I am very optimistic about the future."
"We had 1,100 journalists and 166 broadcasters in Singapore and by the next Youth Olympic Games, there will be far more media attention."
"There were 5,000 videos downloaded on YouTube and four million people joining the Friends of YOG Facebook page. But we will endeavour to help publicise this event and make it even bigger. This is only the very first event."
The first-ever YOG is yet to close, the Chinese city Nanjing, host of the second edition of the pageant, already can not wait to open its arms to the world's young talents.
In a news briefing held in Singapore on Wednesday, Ding Ming, Director of the Culture and Education Department of Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (NYOGOC), revealed that the Nanjing organizing team would try to improve CEP activities in 2014.
"Nanjing is a large city with a long history, and we want to upgrade the number and variety of the CEP activities in Nanjing," said Ding, "On one hand we want to introduce the special culture and character of Nanjing, as well as that of China, to the young athletes, and on the other hand we will set up a platform for culture exchange."
According to Ding, the CEP will offer a variety of innovative and interact activities such as workshops, forums, art events, festivals of various world culture and sports. These activities will have great appeal to youth of the world, arousing in them the interest to communicate with one another and integrate themselves into the Olympic culture.
Ding mentioned the World Culture Village in Singapore's Youth Olympic Village, in which Singapore local students have been called up to prepare for culture exhibition booths to create a platform for the young athletes to know the culture of all the participants.
"The culture exhibition booths created by local students will also be seen in the athletes' village in Nanjing, but this time we might add some high-tech and digital elements," he added. "Our main purpose is to let the young athletes enjoy the CEP activities."
The YOG is an event balancing sport, culture and education. The CEP is hence an integral part of the YOG. In line with the YOG's mission to educate and engage young athletes, inspiring them to play an active role in their communities, the CEP aims for the athletes to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.
Even Rogge admitted that corporate sporting groups were initially concerned that it would not be well received because athletes would be more focused on competition.
But with the CEP programme developed so successfully in Singapore, he was happy his brainchild proved to be a winner and wanted to introduce the successful CEP into the summer Olympics.
"They thought it might not be useful or work well with the athletes - but now I don't have to prove it to them any more," Rogge said.
"We are most definitely considering introducing a limited culture and education programme into the traditional Olympic Games. There is definitely a place for it - it's too late for London but perhaps in Rio. We have to see how we can adapt it for the different age category."
The newly-born Youth Olympic Games, awarded to Singapore in February 2008, opened on Aug. 14 and will end on Aug. 26.
Nanjing was awarded the right to stage the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, becoming the second Chinese city to welcome the Olympic flame after the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
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