Legacy of 1994 Inspires Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games

(ATR) With the Olympic flame in Nanjing now extinguished, attention shifts to Lillehammer, which will host the 2016 Winter Youth Games in just 18 months.

Lillehammer 2016 CEO Tomas Holmestad tells Around the Rings that expectations are lofty because of the infectious spirit, enormous success and indelible memories of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games.

"It places the bar quite high because the whole Olympic family is looking forward to coming back to Lillehammer, and everyone has these great memories from 1994," Holmestad told ATR during his visit to Nanjing. "We feel a heavy responsibility to deliver upon these expectations."

Lillehammer will host the second edition of the Winter YOG, February 12-21, 2016. More than 1,000 teenaged athletes from approximately 80 nations will compete on ice and snow for 70 sets of medals.

Despite the vast differences in the size and scope of the Summer and Winter Games, and the contrasting populations of Nanjing (8 million) and Lillehammer (100,000), Holmestad said his experiences in the ancient Chinese city have been beneficial in preparation for 2016.

"I’m amazed and impressed with what the Chinese have managed to do here," said Holmestad, who visited Nanjing along with eight colleagues from the Lillehammer 2016 Organizing Committee. "Maybe the most important take-away has been what we’ve seen at the Olympic village.

"With the integration of the culture and education activities, they’ve made a truly unique place to live in and learn, which we also hope to accomplish in Lillehammer."

Three-hundred and sixty student apartments are being built in Lillehammer as part of the Youth Olympic Village, located just 300-400 meters away from Haakons Hall, which hosted ice hockey games in 1994. The village will remain as student housing after the Games.

Haakons Hall will serve as home to the Culture & Education Program in 2016.

A second, smaller Olympic YOV will be located just south of Lillehammer in Hamar, where figure skating and speed skating events will be contested as in 1994.

Holmestad said he also hopes to build upon the legacy of Innsbruck, host of the first Winter YOG in 2012.

"We are very inspired by what Innsbruck did with a very relaxed atmosphere, which maybe brought it back to what the Olympic Games used to be like," Holmestad said.

"I’m quite humbled that it will be hard work for the next 16 months, but we will manage and it will be a great Games."

Venues and Sport Program

Seven existing venues from the 1994 Olympics will be utilized in 2016, including Hafjell Alpine Resort, Birkebeineren Ski Stadium, and the Lysgardbakkene Ski Jumping Hills, which was also the setting of the opening and closing ceremony. The only newly built venue is the Lillehammer Curling Hall, which opened in 2012.

"We are an event truly built on the legacy of the 1994 Games," Holmestad emphasized. "Even after 20 years, the venues are so up to date and almost all are used for world cups.

"It shows the power of the Olympic Games and the power of the region maintaining this Olympic legacy."

Keeping with the theme of experimental events at the YOG as witnessed in Nanjing, 11 new events, including mixed gender competitions in Nordic combined, ski-snowboard cross, biathlon and curling are part of the Lillehammer program.

Bach’s First Selfie

IOC president Thomas Bach traveled to Lillehammer in May for a two-day inspection visit along with Angela Ruggiero and the Coordination Commission, a trip that Holmestad claims inspired Bach’s first selfie.

"We had the pictogram launch where local kids from each of the sporting clubs showed the pictograms to the world for the first time together with the president," Holmestad explained.

"I actually think the whole idea of the YOG selfie was born during that visit because our communications guy said ‘let Bach take a selfie with our pictogram guy,’" said the Lillehammer 2016 CEO. "Back then, I don’t think Bach knew how to take a selfie."

"Now, it has become a big thing, so it’s kind of cool that we can say that the first YOG selfie was Bach and our pictogram guy," Holmestad said with a laugh.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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