Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympics Chief Promises Successful Games

(ATR) With one month until the first-ever Winter Youth Olympics open, Innsbruck 2012 CEO Peter Bayer tells Around the Rings he is "very confident" the Games will be a major success.

"We have a very capable and very young team and people are so motivated and thrilled to be part of it and to be able to write history in a way," Bayer told ATR.

"I don't have any concerns. We have had good guidance from the IOC and their experts who have come here and helped us in shaping the details.

"We are ready and really looking forward to this fantastic event."

The lack of snow in Austria and the tight timetable for construction of the athletes' village have been the main challenges for Innsbruck YOG organizers and IOC officials.

"The only thing we are waiting for is snow. That was my main concern to date," Bayer admitted.

Innsbruck experienced the driest November on record.

"You are looking out of your window every day and wondering whether it is coming," he said.

"It should be cold by Friday. Snow is coming, we will be safe by Christmas. That was my wish to Santa Claus," he added, noting that artificial snowmaking facilities can be brought into service before and during the YOG if required.

Bayer said the $91 million Youth Olympic Village, a housing complex constructed near the center of Innsbruck using passive-house technology, was two weeks ahead of schedule and should be finished by Dec. 24.

"We are close to operational readiness. We have started the bump-in process," he said. "The main operations center is running, the accreditation center opened on Monday. We are almost in Games mode."

During the YOG, the village will accommodate more than 1,500 athletes and officials. Post-Games, the 444 apartments will be made available to the city's population.

Bayer has no doubts the 12 competition venues will also impress. Some have an Olympic pedigree – from the 1964 and 1976 Winter Games – such as Bergisel Stadium, Patscherkofel and Seefeld, while new ones like the freestyle park are designed to offer a youthful vibe during the YOG.

"We are in the lucky position that we have sports venues which are tested every year to a very high level with a World Cup or other international competitions," he said.

He said there were now 100 people working for the Innsbruck 2012 organizing committee, including 20 secondees from Sochi 2014 and a few from the Lillehammer 2016 team. More than 1,200 volunteers from more than 40 countries will support the YOG staff.

Bayer and a small delegation from Innsbruck are traveling to Athens on Saturday for the lighting of the flame for the 2012 YOG in Olympia.

"I am so excited to go there," Bayer said. "It is a very, very special moment for those of us who can go to Athens and pick up the Olympic flame. It's the third time for Innsbruck."

Bayer, Austrian Olympic Committee president Karl Stoss and AOC secretary general Peter Mennel will be among those in the delegationjoining IOC president Jacques Rogge, director general Christope de Kepper and Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli at the lighting ceremony.

The Olympic flame returns to Innsbruck the same day and will go on display in a specially made cauldron in the city center for 10 days before the start of the torch relay on Dec. 27.

A total of 2,012 torch bearers will carry the Olympic flame to Innsbruck and across the whole of Austria, stopping at 66 locations. The flame will arrive in Bergisel Stadium 18 days later for the opening of the Games on Jan. 13.

Sixty-three medal events will take place in 15 Olympic winter sports disciplines. They are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboard and speed skating.

Of these medal events, 14 will feature at an Olympics for the first time. There will be mixed-gender and mixed-NOC events, which will see athletes from different countries come together to compete on the same team. These include women’s ski jumping, snowboard slopestyle and ski halfpipe.

The Games close on Jan. 22.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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