"Risk-free" Nanjing secures 2014 Youth Olympic Games

VANCOUVER, Feb. 10 -- China will again welcome the world for a major international sporting event when Nanjing hosts the second Youth Olympic Games in 2014.

Following a close 47-42 vote among International Olympic Committee members in Vancouver Wednesday, the Jiangsu Province capital was declared the winning bid by IOC President Jacques Rogge over Poznan, Poland, two days before the start of the Winter Olympics Games in the Canadian city.

Guadalajara, Mexico, a third city in the running for the Games, dropped out of the bidding last month citing financial reasons.

Singapore will host the first Youth Olympics this August with Innsbruck, Austria, staging the inaugural Winter version of the Games in 2012.

"These Games are a tremendous opportunity for the youth of the world to compete and shine on their own Olympic stage. The message of the Youth Olympic Games is clear; this isn't just a competition but also the opportunity to discover the Olympic values," Rogge said prior to declaring the winning city at the 122nd IOC session.

"Your projects were of the highest quality," the Belgian said of the Nanjing and Poznan campaigns, "however, just like an Olympic competition there can ultimately be only one winner. The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the second Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2014 is awarded to the city of Nanjing."

Nanjing, which will spend a reported 117 million US dollars to host the Games, proposed in its bid to stage the events, open to athletes aged 15-18, will be held August 16-28.

Under the motto of "Olympics for youth, and Olympics by youth", the event will become "an occasion for all the participants to become united around the core Olympic values (excellence, friendship and respect)", according to the www.nanjing2014.org website.

Nanjing will keep its costs down by using existing competition venues. It has 21 facilities, including world-class stadiums built for the China National Games five years ago. The IOC stipulations require a minimum 25 venues.

The city also plans to build an Olympic Village on a site five minutes from the downtown core in a green surroundings that will be "agreeable" and "take into full account of our residents". Its presentation video said Nanjing would have 83,000 hotel rooms by 2014 and would "strictly fulfill its obligations" with "minimal risk to the IOC".

In an impressive presentation that outlined Nanjing's bid as a "Reliable, Safe, Risk-Free City", vice mayor Wang Shouwen told the IOC members that 97 percent of residents supported the hosting of the Games and with a large student population this would "inspire children to lead healthy lives".

"This is a very important event. There are 400 million young people in China. In Nanjing alone they have about 1.5 million students. All those young people are looking forward to hosting these Games. We treasure this opportunity."

Wang played down the business opportunities the Games would bring to the city of more than seven million residents.

"We attach more importance to the Olympic values, the cultural and educational aspect than the business aspects. But certainly it will help people in Nanjing to have better understanding of the outside world because we are going to receive many athletes, their parents and sports people from around the world. It will be very helpful to expose Nanjing people and Nanjing as a city to the other side of the world."

While the Polish delegation boasted among its members Irena Szewinska, the track and field great who won seven medals over five Olympics, the Nanjing team featured Yang Yang, the former world champion short-track speed skater who won a total of five medals at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games.

"I'm very proud and honored that we have a chance to hold the Youth Olympics," the Harbin resident said outside the IOC's Vancouver hotel where about 100 enthusiastic China supporters chanted "Jia You Zhongguo" ("Go China"). "The IOC members chose the city which they believe they trust can do a very good job for the Olympic movement."

"The Youth Games is kind of different from the Olympics. Of course it is competing, but we want to use the Olympics to inspire the youth. It is a lot of culture things, a lot of activities and that's the program. In China it is going to be fantastic for the young kids to be involved."

Among those voting for Nanjing was Timothy Fok Tsun-ting. The president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong said the Nanjing hosting of the Youth Olympic Games would carry on the legacy established by Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou. Hong Kong recently hosted the East Asian Games to great success.

"Nanjing is certainly very capable of running it, but more important is spreading the Olympic movement for the young people, that's vital too," he said. "China is very well organized. Every city is capable of running major games. I see the games as beyond just organization. It's really all the other elements that go with it, the culture that is a very important part. The future is not only athleticism, the culture is very much a part of the Youth Games."

Source: Xinhua