(ATR) IOC president Jacques Rogge tells Around the Rings he’s thrilled to see dozens of rising stars from Innsbruck 2012 setting their sights on Sochi 2014.
"It is fantastic to see so many young athletes from the first Winter Youth Olympic Games continuing to do so well in their careers," he says.
"I’m certain the valuable experiences they gained from competing at Innsbruck 2012 will help them both on and off the field of play."
According to the IOC, at least dozens of the 1,050+ participants from a winter ago will stand a strong chance of qualifying for Sochi.
Rogge clearly takes pride in this apparent success of the YOG, a pet project of sorts throughout his IOC presidency.
"I am confident we will see some of them compete at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, and I wish all the young athletes every success in their future endeavors," he tells ATR.
"Through their commitment and dedication to their sport they have become ambassadors of the spirit of the Youth Olympic Games."
By the Numbers
Tracking the transition from Innsbruck 2012 to Sochi 2014 falls to IOC communications manager Catherine Greene and Youth Olympic Games communication coordinator Kate Sole.
In an Excel spreadsheet seen by ATR, they’re keeping tabs on 28 athletes from 13 countries trying to make the leap from Youth Olympian to Olympian in this final year before the Games.
They span all seven winter Olympic sports, and several competed in events making their debut at Sochi 2014.
Sara Takanashi of Japan won gold in women’s ski jumping, for example, and Katharina Althaus of Germany took silver.
In biathlon, Franziska Preuss helped Germany win the cross-country mixed relay, and Aita Gasparin was part of the Swiss team that finished fourth.
And among FIS disciplines, Kai Mahler of Switzerland won boys’ ski halfpipe gold, Michael Ciccarelli of Canada boys’ snowboard slopestyle gold, Ben Ferguson of USA boys’ snowboard slopestyle silver and Arielle Gold of the U.S. women’s snowboard slopestyle silver.
In total, they won 22 gold medals, six silver and eight bronze at Innsbruck 2012.
As of Tuesday, it’s unclear how many are actually qualified and approved by their National Olympic Committees to compete at Sochi 2014.
"This list is clearly not exhaustive," Sole tells ATR.
"More and more names are coming through all the time from the IFs and NOCs who have given us their full support on this campaign. It also goes without saying that we cannot guarantee all the names on the list will make it to Sochi, but these athletes have made good progression since Innsbruck, with a number making quite a mark on the senior circuit already."
Reported by Matthew Grayson
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