(ATR) In addition to electing the host for the 2022 Winter Games, the IOC will also decide between Brasov, Romania and Lausanne on where to stage the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Brasov leads off as the two candidate cities each deliver 30-minute presentations to the IOC, including Q&A, on Friday morning in Kuala Lumpur.
IOC president Thomas Bach will announce the 2020 YOG winning city, prior to unveiling the 2022 Olympic Games host, at approximately 17:43 local time.
Either Lausanne or Brasov will become the third host city of the Winter YOG, following Innsbruck in 2012 and Lillehammer, which will welcome young athletes from around the world in February 2016.
Some 1,000 youth athletes between the ages of 15-18 will compete for 370 medals in 15 disciplines in seven sports. The Culture and Education Program will once again be an integral component of the multi-sport Youth Games, the brain child of former IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Winter YOG in Lausanne will primarily take advantage of pre-existing venues in accordance with Olympic Agenda 2020. However, organizers, athletes and fans will benefit immensely from the future 10,000-seat Malley Ice Arena, which will also be utilized for the 2020 IIHF world championships. The rink is part of the city’s "H20" plan which includes construction of a 50-meter Olympic swimming pool.
The Lausanne 2020 bid aims to fulfill three primary ambitions: to build upon a unique Olympic heritage, utilize an extended expertise in the world of international sport, and offer specific competences in research and innovation.
Virginie Faivre, three-time FIS Freestyle skiing halfpipe world champion is part of the team that will present the Lausanne 2020 project on stage in front of the IOC.
"We have worked really hard over the past two years to prepare for this D-Day," Faivre said. "We are almost there, with the feeling of having done everything we could to achieve this. Fingers crossed!"
Lausanne delegation president Patrick Baumann, also the secretary general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), spoke of the Swiss city’s merits and winter roots.
"Together, people of Lausanne and of Switzerland have snow in our blood - in our DNA," Baumann said.
"We have built and trained a large number of exceptional winter sport athletes on our mountains and in our ice rinks, but more often than not, these athletes have to travel to earn their medals abroad, outside Switzerland."
"We really hope to convince and come back home with good news. In any case, we know we have done everything we could to succeed," Baumann said.
Lausanne’s lone opponent Brasov is a historic mountainous city in central Romania with experience from hosting the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in 2013.
In contrast to their Swiss challenger, Brasov proposes a smaller, more compact Winter Youth Olympics, anchored by their usage of eight existing facilities already constructed for the 2013 festival.
Brasov contends that its historic surroundings, along with citizens passionate for winter sport, make it an ideal place to welcome Youth Olympic competitors and spectators in 2020.
In their presentation before the IOC tomorrow, bid officials hope to demonstrate that Brasov is ready to welcome the world.
"Athletes will leave Brasov City with the memory of an edition of the Youth Olympic Games held in a modern European city where culture, sports and scientific research are the main activities of the youth," the Brasov bid committee promises.
The Brasov bid has strong support from its municipal and regional governments, who see the 2020 YOGs as an opportunity to increase Romania’s visibility on the world stage.
On the eve of the IOC’s selection, it’s apparent that the Brasov bid lags significantly behind Lausanne’s. Considering Lausanne has been the Olympic capital for a century and the bid is also an attempt to strengthen the YOG brand, it is difficult to imagine members voting against the Swiss city.
Written by Brian Pinelli and Kyle Rinaudoin Kuala Lumpur
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