IOC Chief, Yuna Kim Headline Sjogg Live TV Show -- On the Scene

(ATR) Lights, camera, action!

For a television show produced by college students, you couldn’t ask for a more star-studded line-up of Olympic guests than IOC president Thomas Bach and Korean figure skating champion Yuna Kim.

Sjogg Live is a nightly one-hour live show orchestrated by more than 70 Lillehammer University students and shot nightly in the city's colorful and activity-packed Sjogg Park.

Bach joined Sjogg Live host Maria Kinge on the hip, unpredictable, youth-oriented program for an informal chat about the Winter YOG.

In response to a question about the Games coming to Norway, Bach said: "They inspire the young athletes, they inspire youth and they inspire other people like me."

The IOC chief enjoyed playing along with the host’s light-hearted line of questioning, especially considering the probing queries that he regularly fields from the world’s media. Bach was asked to play a game in which he had to choose between two options – the host asked if he prefers ‘the snooze button or waking up immediately’ to which he revealed he opts for the snooze button.

Bach was then asked to introduce Kim, the Olympic gold and silver medalist and Lillehammer YOG ambassador, who was standing on the adjacent pond ice with Kinge’s 20-year-old co-host Sebastian Warholm.

Kim offered basic skating tips to the novice host. With the figure skating star’s guidance and patience, Warholm comically attempted a very slow 360-degree spin, barely managing to avoid stumbling to the ice.

On interviewing the IOC leader, Kinge said: "I didn’t know how many non-serious questions we could ask him – I thought he might be a little stiff, but he talked and talked and was so cool."

Sjogg Live’s executive producer Hege Michelsen, and the Dean of the televisionstudies program at Lillehammer University, said it was an honor to have the IOC president on the show."He’s so enthusiastic about what we’re doing and the Youth Olympic Games," Michelsen said of Bach. "Our hosts are young and I don’t think he was prepared for the questions he got, so that was funny."

The well-produced, fun-filled show is partly funded by the IOC.

In addition to the primary set, which is situated outdoors in a warmly decorated gazebo, there is also a snow-covered stage with a jumbo video screen and stadium-styleseating for spectators. A large jib camera adds variety to the shots, while the remote crew captures scenes from the frozen pond and other places in Sjogg Park.

Sjogg Live can be viewed nightly in Norway via live-stream on the Lillehammer 2016 website.

Korea’s New Winter Sports Star

Korean cross-country cross gold medalist Magnus Kim followed Bach and Yuna Kim on Sjogg Live.The 17-year-old – who has dual Norwegian and Korean citizenship, but lives and trains in Geilo, Norway – won South Korea’s first-ever snow-sports medal at an Olympic event Sunday at Birkebeineren Stadium.

"It’s been a dream for me – a perfect start and now I’m trying to focus on the two individual events coming up," Kim told Around the Rings after his appearance on Sjogg Live. "I was most satisfied that I beat the Norwegians because they are the best."

The young and immensely talented Nordic skier has his sights set on competing at the PyeongChang 2018 Games in his native country."PyeongChang is the thing I’m looking forward to and working for," Kim said. "It is my biggest and greatest goal."

"I think the interest in Korea is building up and will build up more as we come to the Olympics – at least I hope so," he said. "I believe it will be a good event."

Reported in Lillehammer by Brian Pinelli

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