[Source: IOC] The IOC Executive Board (EB) today made the decision to propose Senegal as host for the 4^th Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2022. The host will be elected by the IOC Session in Buenos Aires. This proposal is based on the report of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission, chaired by IOC Vice-President Uğur Erdener, who said:

“The IOC was fortunate to have four quality partners representing the African continent in the YOG 2022 Host Selection Process. All four candidates have the capability of delivering successful Youth Olympic Games and offer many opportunities:

• Botswana, the smallest of the four candidate countries, proposed a compelling project based in the capital Gaborone that would help achieve the country’s long-term vision for young people and sport.
• Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, proposed a very solid and compact project in the capital Abuja, a project also fully aligned with the national sports and youth strategy.
• Tunisia presented a robust project involving Tunis, La Soukra, Radès and the seaside tourist resort of Yasmine-Hammamet. The project’s vision is in line with the government’s goal to empower young people.”

In taking its decision, the IOC EB recognised that Senegal offers a strong project and the greatest opportunities at this moment in time.

The candidature is centred on three locations: the capital city, Dakar; the new city of Diamniadio; and the coastal resort of Saly. Senegal’s project is tied in with the West African country’s overarching development strategy, notably the national government’s “Emerging Senegal’’ plan, which envisions major economic and infrastructure improvements.

IOC President Thomas Bach said, “It is time for Africa…Africa is the home of many successful and prominent Olympic athletes. Africa is a continent of youth. That is why we want to take the Youth Olympic Games 2022 to Africa and to Senegal. They have offered a project based on a strong vision for youth and sport. There are many opportunities, and we will endeavour to deliver together, as part of a strong partnership, visionary, responsible and inspiring Youth Games”.

In PyeongChang, the IOC Session in February this year unanimously decided that the next edition of the Youth Olympic Games in 2022 would be awarded to the African continent.

The process has been collaborative, and the IOC was impressed by the quality and thoroughness of each party’s submissions. The IOC would like to particularly praise the level of involvement and positive response of all four NOCs and the public authorities concerned.

The Youth Olympic Games 2022 in Africa will make history as the first Olympic event on the continent. The Host Selection Process was shorter than previous processes, and reduced cost and complexity for the Interested/Candidate Parties.

Considering the unifying power of the Games, the IOC is pleased to count on the four parties, which all promised to endorse the decision of the IOC and pledged full support to the selected host.

Following the IOC Session’s endorsement and the signing of the Host Contract in Buenos Aires, Senegal will enter a Co-construction phase with the IOC to build the detailed Senegal 2022 Edition Plan.

The IOC Session will convene on 8-9 October 2018 in Buenos Aires.

SPORTEL is proud to announce that SPORTELAsia 2019 will be held in the vibrant city of Macau from the 5th to 7th of March 2019 at the luxurious JW Marriott Hotel.

Known as the "Vegas of China", the city is the ideal location for the international SPORTEL Community to come together for business and develop opportunities with new key stakeholders across important Far East Markets.

Mr Laurent Puons, SPORTEL CEO, stated:

"We are very excited about this edition of SPORTEL because this event has not been held in the Far East since SPORTELAsia 2014 in Shanghai. The global sports industry and its Asian markets have drastically evolved since 2014 and I believe this is one of the main reasons our community have chosen Macau as its preferred destination for SPORTELAsia 2019."

SportAccord today announced that the Gold Coast located in Queensland, Australia as its next Host City when the sporting business community gathers for the 17th edition of the World Sport & Business Summit taking place from 5-10 May 2019 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Gold Coast has set the scene for blockbuster movies and many world-class sporting events including the recent 2018 Commonwealth Games. With this, it is no surprise Queensland’s most charismatic city has been drawing visitors for more than 50 years. The Gold Coast offers an array of top hotels and expansive resorts set along more than a dozen golden sand beaches. The Gold Coast has something for everyone, from dedicated sport enthusiasts to easy-going families and sophisticated foodies. 

Queensland Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said:

“This event will bring 1500 representatives from up to 100 countries, representing 500 different international sports federations, rights holders, organising committees, businesses and other sporting organisations to the Gold Coast.

“This is the most significant meeting of international sport representatives held every year and securing it for the Gold Coast shows the world that we have one of the foremost major events destinations on the planet.  

“Hosting SportAccord gives us unprecedented access to key decision makers and provides the opportunity to showcase our capabilities first hand. 

“The success of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games proved we have everything required to host large-scale, international sporting events. As a result of the Games we have a range of newly-built and upgraded world-class sporting venues.

“Hosting SportAccord is the next step in securing major international events for the city and our state which will bring benefits to Queensland for years to come.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the city was the perfect host for the major international convention. 

“This is a great demonstration of the partnership we have built with the State over the past years.

“Having SportAccord in our city will turbo charge the opportunities for the Gold Coast to further activate our sporting arenas, as well as our sports science and training facilities. 

“This is post-Games legacy in action and I can’t wait to welcome SportAccord.”

Last year’s SportAccord gathering was hailed as an event to remember for delegates during a week of top-level networking, meetings, conferences, new initiatives and business in Bangkok, Thailand. 
The event’s President Patrick Baumann underlined SportAccord’s credentials as ‘the most productive meeting place for stakeholders in world sport.’
Looking ahead to SportAccord 2019, Patrick Baumann, President of SportAccord and GAISF said:

“It is a pleasure to bring the SportAccord to the Gold Coast of Australia and I would like to thank the Government of Queensland for hosting SportAccord 2019. The 17th edition of SportAccord will be a special one, as it will help mark the one-year anniversary of the delivery of a successful Commonwealth Games and will provide the chance for our delegates to embrace all the qualities and opportunities the Gold Coast and Queensland has to offer.” 

Mr. Baumann went on to say: “It is a unique opportunity for the whole Oceania sports community to meet, interact and mingle with all international sports leaders in a focused and efficient way.”

Organisations looking to become industry partners or send a delegation to SportAccord 2019 can read and watch highlights in The Review magazine. These include the SportAccord Keynote Zarah Al-Kudcy from Formula 1 discussing cultural change through diversity and openness; the incredible success story of LaLiga shared by Grégory Bolle, Head of Global Sponsorship and Sales; and Queensland’s Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, and the Commonwealth Games, Honourable Kate Jones who talked about ‘Making Relationships a Priority’ during the Closing Keynote Address at the CityAccord conference.

SportAccord is also host to the annual general assemblies and official meetings for the event stakeholders, with representation from all the GAISF international sports federations, associates and observers in attendance.
 

Host City: What are the expected benefits of hosting FIFA World Cup 2026 in Baltimore?

Terry Hasseltine: To show off Baltimore in the brightest light featuring a world cup soccer event would be invaluable for the city of Baltimore. Local residents would see just how special Charm City is and its capabilities of hosting an event of this magnitude. Restaurants would be booming with local as well as out of town visitors wanting to stay close to all the action, from the FIFA Fan Fest to all the other events that will take place in the Inner Harbor and its surrounding areas. Soccer fanatics across the globe will realize that with Baltimore’s rich history, fine arts scene, as well as sports culture and exciting nightlife, this is “The Baltimore you’re missing.”

Host City: Is Maryland looking to bid for other major international events, and why?

Terry Hasseltine: Maryland is continuously looking for international event opportunities to grow national and international awareness for our state and major cities. With four international airports in close proximity, major highways and the Amtrak, Maryland is easily accessible for all to travel. It is also important to us to have visitors and tourists travel here and experience Maryland for themselves. Within a short drive, one can visit our nation’s capital, the Appalachian Mountains, Atlantic Ocean and much more.

Host City: How important is it to host national sports events, e.g. NCAA tournaments, MLS?

Terry Hasseltine: Very important. From 2019-2022, the NCAA DI (and DIII for 2021) Women’s Lacrosse Championships will be held at Johns Hopkins University as well as Towson University. This draws fans, parents and family from around the nation to our state for several days. We want to create a positive and impactful experience for all to make visitors want to come back each year we host the event.

Host City: What part does hosting major non-sports events play in Maryland’s economic development strategy?

Terry Hasseltine: Hosting non-sports events plays a huge role in Maryland’s economic development strategy. Events such as Artscape, America’s largest free arts festival, attracting over 350,000+ attendees over three days draws a significant number of visitors to Baltimore and its surrounding areas. Air Force Service Shows that highlight the Blue Angels and others are large tourism draws for military. Several food and beverage festivals are taking place through downtown Baltimore, Annapolis and other cities that tourists and visitors travel to from out-of-state. This means generated hotel revenue, tourists in our local shops and restaurants, as well as exploring the area positively, making them want to come back in the future.

Host City: How important is it for you to learn from other cities about best practice in hosting major events?

Terry Hasseltine: It is crucial to explore other cities’ major events in order to make our events throughout the state successful. Attending and playing a role in another city’s event can give us the behind-the-scenes knowledge and first-hand experiences for what is successful and what is not, dependent on the area, for our events. The best way to learn is through experiences and conversations with other destinations and venues, which is an important tool we use when attracting major events to Baltimore and the State of Maryland.

[Source: EventScotland] The Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2022 are coming to Scotland after Edinburgh was awarded the event by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF), beating Paris for the honour.

The Scottish capital was successful after an innovative joint bid was submitted by The Scottish Orienteering 6-Day Event Company, Scottish Orienteering Association, EventScotland, the City of Edinburgh Council, British Orienteering and the University of Edinburgh to host the event in the middle of July 2022.

The IOF Sprint World Orienteering Championships brings together the best teams from around the world to compete across three main disciplines – individual sprint, sprint relay and knock-out sprint.  An anticipated 250 athletes from 50 countries are expected to attend the Championships, bringing with them additional coaching staff and supporters. In addition to the main Championship races, there will also be a full programme of spectator races suitable for all levels of orienteering ability and competitive classes for all ages.

Scotland has a strong history of hosting the World Orienteering Championships having previously hosted the event three times over the last 40 years. However, unlike the previous occasions when the event took place in countryside of the Scottish Highlands, the 2022 event will use the fabric of Edinburgh’s city centre to create an exciting and unique sports arena.

Taking advantage of the medieval tenements, the narrow and intricate alleys and the sweeping landscapes surrounding the city, innovation will be at the core of the Championships to challenge the athletes as well as bring the best possible experience of this thrilling and fast-paced sport to spectators by creating an amazing spectacle for them in the heart of the city. Use of innovative broadcasting techniques, including drone footage, will also allow organisers to showcase Edinburgh to an international TV audience alongside the exciting sporting action.

Tom Hollowell, International Orienteering Federation CEO, said: “The IOF vision for the Sprint World Orienteering Championships, of bringing it to exciting international venues, is coming true.

“Scotland has extensive experience in organising high-level events. The World Orienteering Championships in Inverness in 2015 was the latest major IOF event held in the country. The bid was partly initiated by EventScotland, which is involved in delivering major sporting and cultural events in Scotland. 

“The support being provided by the City of Edinburgh Council and EventScotland was a key factor in awarding Sprint WOC 2022. We look forward to showing orienteering and Edinburgh to the world.”

He added: “Through their bid, we expect that Edinburgh will first and foremost provide exciting competitions where the world’s best sprint orienteers will be awarded their medals. But we also expect to increase the visibility of orienteering both locally and globally against the palette of the iconic landmarks of Edinburgh.”

Peter Hart, British Orienteering Chief Executive, said: “Being awarded the Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2022 is incredibly important to us. We have been working alongside our partners preparing our bid for a long time and I’d like to thank them all for their dedication to it, in particular, the Scottish Orienteering Association, for driving this exciting project forward.

“This win gives us the opportunity to further develop the sport throughout the United Kingdom by building on the success of 2015 when we last hosted a World Championships.

“We look forward to welcoming the world’s best orienteers with a warm Scottish welcome to Edinburgh in 2022 where they will battle it out in what is guaranteed to be a thrilling competition in a spectacular city.”

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “We are delighted Scotland has been awarded the right to host the Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2022. This is an excellent result following the hard work by the bid partners to secure this important international event for the Scottish capital.

“Over the years, Scotland has developed the capacity and capability to deliver a wide range of sporting and cultural events, and it is our globally recognised reputation along with our experience in event delivery that makes Scotland the perfect stage for events.”

Councillor Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities Convener for City of Edinburgh Council, said: “With its narrow closes, steep stairways and winding streets, Edinburgh’s city centre will provide the ideal challenging location for the world’s top orienteers.

“Images of the competitors making their way down the Royal Mile will present an excellent opportunity for us to showcase Edinburgh’s beautiful and historic cityscape to a global audience.

“We’re looking forward to hosting this Sprint World Championship sporting event, and I’m sure the people of Edinburgh will warmly welcome the many competitors and supporters from all over the world.”

Anne Hickling, Chair of Scottish Orienteering Association, said: “The Scottish Orienteering Association is delighted by this exciting news. Hosting a World Championship event in the heart of Edinburgh will give us the opportunity to present orienteering to a wide audience and allow people to see at close quarters what an exciting sport it is.

“Building on the experience of our successful hosting of the 2015 World Championships, we are confident that this event will promote growth in our sport locally and across the country.

“We look forward to working with our partners in the event and to welcoming the world's best orienteers to Scotland again.”

The decision to award Edinburgh the Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2022 follows the city being shortlisted by the IOF earlier this year and a visit by officials in May to see the city’s world-class venues and facilities that will make it the perfect host.

The IOF will now appoint a Senior Event Advisor to work closely with the Steering Group and Organisation Committee to oversee the delivery of the event including reviewing and agreeing race venues, TV rights and appointment of officials.

When the Austrian Olympic Committee abandoned the Graz 2026 Olympic campaign in early July, it came just weeks after voters in Switzerland rejected Sion’s bid in a referendum citing high costs – again raising concerns about the Olympic brand and bringing into question the IOC’s bidding procedure.

In April, the IOC was sitting pretty with a healthy field of seven candidates. But people power has now torpedoed two bids and some of the other five bidders are on shaky ground. Calgary in Canada, Erzurum in Turkey, Sapporo in Japan, Stockholm in Sweden and a possible Italian bid remain, with the IOC still to decide which of them to put through to the candidature phase in October – if they are all still standing.

Bidding issues

A series of withdrawals from the 2022 and 2024 Olympic bid contests triggered the IOC’s “Agenda 2020” revamp of its bidding procedure. But the messaging to potential Olympic cities around the globe about reducing Games costs – mainly by maximizing the use of existing and temporary facilities – is clearly still not getting through.

The demise of Graz 2026 underscored the issues. Failure to win public and political support for an Olympic project makes bidding a big financial gamble.

The Austrian Olympic Committee spelled out the problem. Despite proposing a Winter Games in line with Agenda 2020 and, latterly, the IOC’s ‘New Norm’ measures designed to further slash costs – along with a  Graz 2026 feasibility study that outlined multiple benefits for the region – the bid was halted.

“Because of the political arguments currently taking place, the ÖOC greatly regrets that there has to date been no clear political backing, nor any corresponding support from the Styrian state government – something which the ÖOC regarded as essential, right from the start,” the committee said.

“Under these circumstances, a project of this scale is not viable, and certainly not internationally justifiable.”

Graz’s defeat, eight months after Innsbruck’s 2026 campaign was derailed by a referendum, was another blow for the IOC hot on the heels of Sion’s exit.

The IOC could doubtless do with fewer referendums bringing negative headlines for the Olympic brand, but officials would prefer a bid to be sunk now rather than the middle of next year, causing even more damage.

“The IOC fully understands the decision taken by the Austrian National Olympic Committee and respects their view that they do not wish to become part of a local political dispute since the Olympic Games should always be a unifying force,” the IOC commented on the collapse of Graz 2026.

Staying alive

By this time next year, it seems unlikely there will be five bids left battling for 2026 hosting rights. While the IOC would like a European 2026 host, IOC president Thomas Bach said recently he had no problem with a third Winter Games heading to Asia after PyeongChang and Beijing.  

Sapporo, host of the 1972 Winter Olympics, is seen as a safe pair of hands if the other 2026 bidders fall by the wayside. Sapporo officials have wavered over whether to bid for the next winter edition or wait until 2030, but Bach’s remarks may persuade the city to stay in the contest.

Calgary’s 2026 campaign, on thin ice a few months ago due to political concerns, received a boost in June when the Canadian Olympic Committee voted unanimously to support the bid from the 1988 Winter Games host city.

“This represents a very important and positive next step towards Calgary’s candidature for 2026,” said Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith. “We will continue to work with all the relevant stakeholders to build momentum to ensure an inspiring and responsible Olympic bid.”

In the coming months, the bid will launch a public engagement effort to convince city residents and the wider population of the benefits. But the Olympic bid may face a referendum in November, which could scupper Calgary’s aspirations.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) is not rushing its decision on a candidate city. On 11 July, CONI’s executive board decided to submit a bid to the IOC – but it delayed the announcement on whether the city will be Milan, Turin, Cortina d’Ampezzo or a joint effort. An evaluation committee will assess the Olympic feasibility studies of the three contenders before presenting a report to CONI’s National Council. Italy’s candidate city will be chosen in August or September. The Italian government said in early July that it would support a 2026 bid under certain conditions. But political infighting may prove the bid’s undoing in the long run.

The eastern Turkish city of Erzurum is an unknown quantity. After a handful of failed attempts by Istanbul to host the Summer Olympics, it’s the country’s first push to land the winter version. Although largely unknown outside Olympic circles, the host of the 2011 World Universiade Winter Games and 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival has some traction within the Olympic movement.

Back to Europe?

Stockholm appears favourite to secure the 2026 Olympics. The
Swedish bid has joined the other cities at IOC workshops and video conferences over recent months to enhance its Olympic plans. Bid officials say they’ve received good feedback from IOC executives and experts during the dialogue phase of the bidding process.

And Stockholm has struck a deal to use the Sigulda sliding track in Latvia for bobsleigh, skeleton and luge events, addressing one of the IOC’s biggest concerns about the bid.

Despite being on a firm footing, Sweden’s national elections in September may impact Stockholm’s bid. Government backing is necessary to pursue the city’s Olympic quest.

An October decision by the IOC executive board will determine which bids enter the one-year candidature phase, which concludes with the host city vote in September 2019.

Host City: What is the main aim of Thailand’s event hosting strategy – is it direct economic impact or wider societal benefits?

Weerasak Kowsurat: We never draw any international games to the country for economic purpose. This happens afterwards, when you see people coming to the city and spending money, but it is never placed there as the main objective of why we bid.

Every time we bid it is because we think that it is time to generate a spiritual atmosphere for the locals to attend and understand better about sports. It’s more on the social side.

It is not a stadium that makes the city that looks lively; it is the population, the people who, after the sports events happen, are inspired to do more activities – either economically, socially or culturally. And we find we have been very successful in that direction.

We don’t intend to always see people packing in a big major stadium somewhere – it happens naturally.

Host City: Do you have plans to build any major new venues?

Weerasak Kowsurat: We have decided to think a lot more seriously about whether there are requirements to build more sporting facilities, because we think that unless we have a better plan of how we are going to use those facilities after the mega event, then we would prefer to make use of what god gives. And you see that in the Tri-league – swimming, biking, running – this is happening more and more in Thailand and we are getting more international participants who want to come here, not only because they want to be at the championship but part of our society.

See, Thailand has been voted internationally as the friendliest country in the world for around ten consecutive years. It pleased a lot of people, including ourselves, that the scenery is nice but the better part is that the people are nice. They may not all be able to communicate in international languages, but the body language is so friendly that it absorbs almost any activity, either sports or non-sports.

Also the weather is so amenable to almost any kind of sport – except winter sports! Then we have all year round sporting activities happening all the time. We have been working with at least 600 run and ride events annually around the country. With a population of 70 million population, this means we have at least 1,000 attending each event around the country.

See, sporting is not about winning or losing. It is an activity that you do with others. That will help to mix diverse people, regionally, domestically and internationally.

Thailand received 35 million international visitors last year, including a million Americans. We have a great variety of people coming into the country. Sport events can be looked at as a way in the modern society for different people to mix together.

When you mix these kind of things together it will bring harmony: harmony for the guest and harmony for the host.

Host City: What kind of events are most important to Thailand – sports, business or cultural events?

Weerasak Kowsurat: We have 1.2 million MICE travellers coming to the country every year. But that is not the biggest portion of activities we have – the largest is people travelling for tourism generally.

Host City: Thailand has not hosted a major multisport event since the Asian Games in 1998. Are you still focusing on smaller championships or will you bid for mega events in the future?

Weerasak Kowsurat: We have been talking about the Youth Olympics, but it depends more on what we would like to achieve; and we need to consult more with our people and find out what they are most interested in.

Having all the big sport leaders coming into town at SportAccord gives us a chance to see the whole list of all sports available on the planet. Maybe it’s time for our generation to pick and choose what to try.

It’s not about competing to be the host city; it’s about what the people in the city want to do.

In Thailand, the sports facilities that already exist have room to grow; we don’t want them to sit idle. At the same time, we also have what god makes: we have very nice scenery, we have two oceans, we have mountains and plains; and the weather outside is so amenable to sport. So instead of throwing away billions of dollars building something in concrete, why don’t we get people to go out and be friendly in the local atmosphere.

Host City is Event Development Partner of SportAccord

[Source: SportAccord] It is the first time SportAccord will take place in Thailand providing a prestigious platform, as well as easy-access for Thai organisations and those in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, to become involved in the business of sport and take advantage of the many opportunities the event has to offer.

SportAccord is the only annual sports business event attended by all the international sports federations within GAISF, and provides unique access to numerous networking events and high-profile attendees throughout the week. These include around 1,500 delegates representing industry, cities/regions, legal and health teams, inventors, sports sponsors, providers and rights holders, subject matter experts, as well as newsmakers, to name a few.

Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord said: “Final preparations are well underway ahead of SportAccord in April. We have just returned from another series of very successful coordination meetings with the Thai Ministry and their teams in Bangkok. There is a lot of focused and dedicated work going on behind the scenes to ensure that the next SportAccord will be an outstanding success for everyone involved.”

Hatt went on to say: “If you have not already done so, I would encourage anyone involved in the business of sport, to register and take part.”

Speaking of the great honour in hosting SportAccord, Col. Ruj of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) revealed to news channels: “Thailand has gained confidence from SportAccord. This also comes from the hard work undertaken by the Thai team over the last 6 months, with a bit left to do over the next 2 months to achieve where we would like to be.”

As part of the Official Schedule, SportAccord will host well over 20 networking events, a 3-day Exhibition as well as an extensive Conference programme to include: the Summit (Plenary), CityAccord, LawAccord, MediaAccord and HealthAccord.

Other key features include: Speakers’ Corner, the Thai Pavilion, the Opening Ceremony and Closing Event.

Organisations looking for opportunities to increase their visibility at the World Sport & Business Summit can become an Exhibitor or Partner by contacting the sales team: sales@sportaccord.com or phone +41 (0)79 126 08 42.

Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord using #sportaccord, as well as LinkedIn and on Facebook.

[Source: IOC] The International Olympic Committee has approved plans to target African National Olympic Committees (NOCs) as potential host cities of the fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2022. The decision was made by members at the IOC Session, following the recommendation of the IOC’s Executive Board earlier this week.

A targeted approach based on the principle adopted by the IOC Session in 2016 will replace the competitive stage seen for previous YOG host city selections, making the process more streamlined, simpler and shorter.

Part of this evolution is to ensure the event is accessible to a greater number of cities, which will be encouraged to make full use of existing and temporary venues. The goal is to elect the host city at the next IOC Session, to be held in October 2018 in Buenos Aires, ahead of the YOG.

This approach has been taken in line with a recent YOG review, to ensure a more impactful and effective concept for young elite athletes, and for host cities.

IOC President Thomas Bach said, “Africa is the home of so many very successful Olympic athletes. Africa is a continent of youth.  That is why we want to take the Youth Olympic Games 2022 to Africa. The IOC will proactively approach a number of African NOCs to evaluate the feasibility of such a project.”

The next few weeks will see the IOC engaging with selected African NOCs to establish the feasibility of staging the Youth Olympic Games 2022. This will be based on the criteria established by the revised YOG model, including use of existing infrastructure and affordable temporary fields of play, enhanced flexibility and adaptation to the local context, with the event to be used as a catalyst for wider youth and sport engagement programmes.

Significant work has already been undertaken by the IOC on the African continent to use sport to protect and invest in young people and drive social transformation, starting with the Youth Olympic Development Centre in Zambia, a facility which supports over 10,000 young athletes, from grass roots through to the international level.

This is supported throughout the continent with the Olympic Solidarity programme that offers assistance to NOCs for athlete development, training of coaches and sports administrators.

Furthermore, in partnership with UNHCR, the IOC also established the Olympic Refuge Foundation in 2017, which aims to create safe, basic and accessible sports facilities in areas where there are refugees, a displaced migrant population and internally displaced people. The IOC has established projects in Rwanda and Ethiopia to ensure the safety and security of young refugees.

IOC Member from Ethiopia, Dagmawit Berhane said,  “Our youth has been hoping and always dreaming to have the world come to Africa and experience the African nations. It’s a pleasure to hear our colleagues in the IOC have the faith and belief in an African nation to host the [Youth Olympic] Games.”

Nawal El Moutawakel, IOC Member and Moroccan Olympic hurdling champion, also commented: “I would like to express my joy at finally seeing such a project being implemented on a continent which has for so long been on the margin of our Olympic Movement. This is going to be a great glimmer of hope for Africa.”

A future Youth Olympic Games edition in Africa will go one step further to build on the sports development work, youth sport events and programmes that are already gaining momentum, such as the African Youth Games, and to further engage with the largest continental youth population.

“There are two different pathways to develop sport. One is to create successful heroes – athletes like Yang Yang, who you had the honour of interviewing just now – and they will inspire youngsters, kids, the media, sponsors to create a lot of interest in the sport.

“The other way is mass participation, through activity. We are working on both solutions, both opportunities at FIS. On the one side organising competitions here in China, which will continue right through with the big progression plan to the 2022 Olympic winter games and long afterwards. This is having a great effort from the Chinese sports authorities to build up new champions to have a lot of success. That will inspire more youngsters, activity and participants.

“On the other side we have developed programmes to get into snow sports. For nearly 10 years the ‘Bring Children to the Snow’ programme has created a lot of interest in China, as well and “Snow Kids” activity and with the annual ‘Snow Day’ since 2012. And now here together with the WWSE in Beijing we will launch the ‘Get Into Snow Sport China’. This is an entrants level course designed to for people to be able to really begin being familiar with snow, learning the basics, enjoying having fun and making friends with snow sports. That’s what it’s all about.

“We are working with the Chinese Ski Association, with Beijing Sport University, with the institutions here in China and commercial partner Alisports to be able to market a course all over the country and create a lot of interest and really make it happen. So there are two ways; champions and getting kids started who have perhaps never seen snow before.

“The goal for the next generation is to have many happy and health new sports participants and, we hope, champions at future events.”

New events at Beijing 2022

“There are many opportunities to include new events. The philosophy of the IOC however is to ensure that the Games remain manageable, that there is not an over-explosion of new facilities required, so that can be many different countries and regions that are capable of hosting the Olympic Winter Games also in the future. So within the six FIS disciplines, we have an excellent blend of traditional sports and young sports and we are able to develop and adapt the disciplines and the events on the programme as society changes, as also the different opportunities – technology, skill, equipment, facilities – and this is exactly what we are doing.

“For Beijing 2022 we are looking at different opportunities. In ski jumping for example, like “friends from Biathlon”, we have a mixed team event for the ski jumping with ladies and men in one team – it’s part of the World Championships since many years. We are also proposing the inclusion of Nordic combined for ladies, which is also an activity we have within FIS, not yet at Olympic level. It will be on the programme of the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne in 2020.

“We are looking to add to the Big Air competition for snowboards, which will be at this fantastic new venue in Shougang in Beijing. Not only snowboard but also to have Ski Big Air, like we have in the World Cup. And, on proposal of Chinese Ski Association and Chinese Olympic Committee, they will also submit a bid to have mixed team aerials.

“So there are some interesting opportunities across the difference disciplines within FIS that the IOC will be asked to evaluate and to consider if they will bring additional value to the Olympic Winter Games.”

This article, composed of statements Sarah Lewis OBE made to the press at World Winter Sports Expo in Beijing, first appeared in the Winter 2017 issue of Host City magazine