(ATR) The first edition of the Youth Olympic Games is over in Singapore.
A closing ceremony celebrating youth brought the Games to a close Thursday night. Athletes crowded around the stage for the entire show instead of filing into the seats. More than 3600 athletes from 205 nations took part in the YOG, competing in the 26 sports on the program for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The 100-minute show was largely designed and performed by young people. Part of the ceremony celebrated the Culture and Education Program that was one of the hallmarks of the YOG.
The Float@Marina Bay was the venue for the ceremony, as it was for the Aug. 14 opening. A surge of last-minute ticket sales pushed the grandstand audience to a reported 27,000 spectators.
"We have done it! We have delivered the inaugural Youth Olympic Games," said IOC member Ser Miang Ng, president of SYOGOC.
Ng had special praise for IOC president Jacques Rogge.
"Thank you, President Jacques Rogge for your vision. This is the legacy of your presidency."
He also promised to stand with Innsbruck and Nanjing, hosts of the next YOGs.
"To my friends at Innsbruck and Nanjing, good luck to you and we will be there always to support you. May the Flame of the Youth Olympic Games burn ever brighter at your Games."
Ng’s speech was delivered in five languages. The introduction was in French, the main part in English, and he thanked Singapore in the three traditional languages most used in the city.
Rogge congratulated Singapore and the athletes on the past two weeks of events.
"These Games will leave a great human legacy in Singapore and around the world.
"Dear athletes, you made us proud.
"You have learnt what it means to be a true champion, not simply a winner.
"You have shown us that a new generation is ready to embrace and share Olympic values.
"And when, years from now, you reflect on your sports career, you will be able to say: ‘I was in Singapore, where it all began.’
Earlier Thursday, Rogge told reporters at a press conferencethat his perceived role as father of the YOG is not how he sees it.
"I am not Mr YOG. There is one mother, Singapore, but there are many, many fathers," said Rogge.
The ceremony debuted a new flag—"the Singapore Flag". It will be as the official flag at every Summer YOG.
"Singapore 2010" is embroidered in white on the bottom right of the flag.
Nanjing mayor Jianye Ji received the flag from the IOC President in a handover ceremony followed by a brief video about Nanjing, a more truncated handover than the one held during closing ceremony of the regular Olympics.
To the accompaniment of Chinese drums and other instruments, the flame in the lighthouse-shaped caldron was extinguished.
Next on the Olympic calendar is another Youth Olympics. Innsbruck hosts the inaugural Winter YOG in 2012 from Jan. 13 – 22, six months before the London Games.
ATR coverage of the Youth Olympic Games
is Proudly Presented by Annecy 2018
Written and reported in Singapore by Ed Hula III.
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