Youth Olympic Games Bid Profile: Singapore

The city-state of Singapore measures only some 40 by 20 km. (ATR) Singapore’s Youth Olympic Games bid impressed the IOC panel of experts with its culture and education plans and general infrastructure. But the Youth Olympic Village raises questions because it has yet to be built.

Stellar Grade in Culture and Education

The IOC panel of experts calls Singapore’s education program dynamic, professional and well thought-out. Singapore proposes twinning its schools with national Olympic committees and recruiting Singaporean young people to buddy up with YOG athletes as they arrive. Singapore schools propose to develop a curriculum on Olympic sports and Olympism and to organize an international teacher’s conference to promote the lesson plans. During the Games, athletes will be able to choose from a menu of enrichment classes or discussions structured around culture, sport, and global issues. The IOC rates the plans between 8 and 10 on a 10-point scale.

Finances

Singapore proposes a games budget of some $75 million. Seventy percent of revenue will come Singapore will also join the F1 circuit this year. (Getty Images) from a government subsidy – the city-state has only one level of government. Domestic sponsorships will cover some 18 percent of costs. The biggest expenditures are operations at Youth Olympic Village and Venues; each takes 14 percent of the budget.

Singapore suggests a non-YOGOC budget of $4.6 million, to cover venue upgrades and purchase of sports equipment.

The extensive government support of the games is tied to its Sporting Singapore Vision – a 2001 plan from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to make the country a capital of sporting industries and excellence. To that end, Singapore has founded a sport high school just for potential elite athletes and is demolishing its National Stadium for a massive multi-sport complex. The so-called Sports Hub will not be finished until 2011, so the games focal point will be on the other shore of Marina Bay.

Floating Ceremony

Fourteen sports are set to take place in a cluster within 5 km of the centrally-located Marina Bay and the adjacent International Convention Centre. The ceremony venue is actually on the Bay – the Marina Bay Floating Stadium features outdoor seating for 27,000 facing a The Marina Bay cluster covers Singapore’s colonial quarter and much of the Central Business District. (Getty Images) floating stage and the city skyline. Singapore first used the setup for its 2007 National Day celebration. A smaller cluster of venues lie less than 10 km away along an expressway and subway line north of the Bay. All other venues are within 27 km of the Bay, connected by an extensive public transportation network. Venue quality rates between 6.5 and 8 in the IOC evaluation.

The Youth Olympic Village is planned for new university housing some 10 km from the Bay. The IOC experts underlined the risk involved in building housing for 5,000 within the YOG timeframe, but still gave the village plan a score of 8 to 9.

Transport operations earn Singapore earns between a 7 and 8.5. The IOC experts write that they require more information on the city’s strategy and Olympic lanes proposal. Transport infrastructure – including public transport and the airport – earn a 9 to 9.5.

Written by

Maggie Lee

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