Young Olympians display true Olympic spirit

China will host an Olympic game again after the highly acclaimed 2008 Beijing Olympics. And it will be held in Nanjing, where ancient glory and modern prosperity are well demonstrated.

On Feb 11, 2010, Jacques Rogge, IOC President, announced that Nanjing won the bid for the Second Youth Olympic Games which will be held from Aug 17-28, 2014.

Since then, Nanjing has started the preparations for the games.

On Oct 10, 2010, the inaugural meeting of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (NYOGOC) was held.

Staff of the NYOGOC visited Singapore when the First Youth Olympic Games was held there in August 2010, to learn about the experience of organization and management. Also, IOC technical meeting, debriefing of Singapore Youth Olympic Games and first meeting of IOC coordination commission for Nanjing Youth Olympic Games (NYOG) were held to accumulate experience.

The NYOG is designed to be the perfect combination of culture, education and sporting competition, becoming a stage for Eastern and Western cultural exchange while simultaneously providing a good platform for Nanjing to communicate with the world.

The NYOG will encompass all 26 sports. Fifteen venues will be made available with three distinct themed zones, that is, the Olympic center zone, the cultural and scenic zone and university town zone.

The NYOGOC has outlined a work progress timetable for four themes, six stages, 39 functions and 525 milestone activities.

At the end of last October, when the NYOGOC sent out invitation for slogan competition and emblem design competition, thousands of people from dozens of countries and regions answered. And the emblem was chosen on May 19, 2011, in Nanjing.

The NYOGOC is at present making detailed plans for the venues, marketing, cultural and educational activities.

To create excellent conditions for the games, the local government has drawn up a comprehensive support plan and has started the work in venue construction, environmental quality upgrading, transport improvement, security system strengthening and medical service.

Based on the concept of the Youth Olympic Games from IOC, the cultural and educational exchange plan for NYOG is designed by young people and focused on presenting their characteristics.

A number of activities have been held to strengthen this plan, such as walk on the city wall, Olympic flag relay and anniversary celebration. These activities have aroused great enthusiasm among the local residents.

The NYOG will become a platform for young people to learn from each other. Nanjing's Youth Olympic Village, aiming to create a green, low-carbon, community environment for participating youth athletes, will combine Olympic spirit, Chinese culture and Nanjing flavor.

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page39)