Buenos Aires 2018 Learns from Nanjing YOG

(ATR) Organizers of the next summer Youth Olympic Games have taken one key lesson from their Nanjing counterparts: keep it simple.

Buenos Aires 2018 CEO Leandro Larrosa has come away impressed by the efficiency of this year’s YOG organization.

"There were a lot of people who were waiting to see a lot of technology involved in the way they developed some venues, and I have to tell you that I’ve seen a lot of things solved really simply," said Larrosa. "We are copying that."

At the rowing venue, Larrosa said, the channel is between two walls, causing waves to bounce back and interfere with rowers’ progress.

"The way they solved it, everyone was thinking, ‘Oh, they’re going to use some kind of new technology to avoid this or that.’ They used floating plants close to the wall."

Larrosa said the plants absorb the waves, preventing the waves from bouncing back.

"There are a lot of people discussing the way the Chinese do big things, but at the end of the story, what we found out is that they’re solving the issues in a simple and easy way and not spending a lot of money," he said.

Larrosa was also impressed by the layout at the Youth Olympic Sports Park, where rugby sevens, hockey, BMX cycling and beach volleyball were staged.

"They didn’t built a Ritz-Carlton Hotel," Larrosa said, referring to the simple but effective design.

Larger venues like the Nanjing Olympic Stadium and nearby natatorium were re-used, rather than built anew.

"They didn’t build huge things," said Larrosa. "I think we have a lot of things to learn from them in the way they solved some issues."

Building the Youth Olympic Village

The largest amount of work for Buenos Aires lies in the Youth Olympic Village in the district of Villa Soldati.

"That part of the city needed some development," Larrosa said. "The city of Buenos Aires was already developing,and after the election of Buenos Aires [as YOG host], the city decided to finally [speed up] the decision of building the village there."

"The plan is to find a buyer for the village one year prior to the Games. It will then be used as part of a "first apartment program for young families."

Larrosa feels it critical that his staff see this Youth Olympics up close. His entire staff of around 20 – culled from areas like infrastructure, marketing, communications and sports – arrived in Nanjing 10 days before the Games started to get the lay of the land.

Even the secretary of transport for Argentina has visitedto get a close-up look at the transit plans used by Nanjing 2014, though the Buenos Aires CEO hopes transport will be a non-issue at the 2018 Games. He said the 2018 event would be laid out in a pair of compact clusters, each housing about half of the sports. Larrosa said part of the Buenos Aires 2018 philosophy is to "get sports to people, not people to sports".

Buenos Aires is planning a reprise of one of the hits of the Nanjing 2014 Games - the Sports Lab. However, one sport dear to Argentineans – polo – may have to stay on the sidelines.

"You can’t ride a horse and try to hit the ball if you’re not used to doing that," he said.

Nonetheless, Larrosa envisions something similar to the sports showcases which take place in the city’s Palermo district every year for Olympic Day.

Argentina treasures its relationship with the Olympic Movement, which is part of why Buenos Aires 2018 organizers are focused on a successful YOG without thoughts of a possible Summer Olympic bid.

"We have to remember that Argentina was one of the 13 founders of the Olympic Movement together with Pierre de Coubertin," he said.

Hosting the YOG, as well as last year’s IOC Session, are part of a larger initiative to give the country more of a presence within the Olympic world.

That presence will begin to increase on Thursday at the Nanjing 2014 closing ceremony. That’s when Buenos Aires city official Horacio Rodriguez Larreta takes the Youth Olympics flag from Nanjing, and the ticking on the countdown clock to 2018 gets a little louder.

Written by Nick Devlin in Nanjing

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