2012 Winter Youth Olympics

I Winter Youth Olympic Games
Official logo
Host city	Innsbruck, Austria
Nations participating	70[1]
Athletes participating	1059 (estimated)[2]
Events	63
Opening ceremony	January 13
Closing ceremony	January 22
Stadium	Bergisel Stadium

The 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games, officially known as the I Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), will be an international multi-sport event for youths that will take place in Innsbruck from 13 to 22 January 2012. They will become the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics, a major sports and cultural festival celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games. Approximately 1100 athletes from over 60 countries are expected to compete. The decision for Innsbruck to host the Games was announced on 12 December 2008 after mail voting by 105 International Olympic Committee (IOC) members. Innsbruck will become the first city to host three Olympic events, having previously hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics and the 1976 Winter Olympics.^[3]

Contents 1 Organization 1.1 Bid process 1.2 Infrastructure and Budget 1.3 Mascots 1.4 Venues 2 The Games 2.1 Participating nations 2.2 Sports 2.3 Calendar 3 References 4 External links

Organization

Bid process

The schedule was announced in January, 2008.

• March 6, 2008 – National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were to inform the IOC of the names of their candidate cities.
• May 19, 2008 – Cities submit Candidature files.
• June 2008 – IOC announces shortlist of Candidate Cities.
• July 2008 – The Evaluation Commission submits its report to the IOC Executive Board.
• August 2008 – The IOC Executive Board will submit its recommendations to the IOC members for a postal vote.
• December 12, 2008 – The host city was announced.^[4]

All four applicant cities were kept as candidate cities by the IOC in August 2008. Swedish skiier Pernilla Wiberg was the Evaluation Chair for the Commission to score the applicant cities.^[5] In November 2008, two cities were cut from the list, leaving^[6] Innsbruck and Kuopio. On December 12, the final vote was revealed to be 84 votes to 15, with Innsbruck winning the hosting rights.^[7]

2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games bid results
City	NOC Name	Postal votes
Innsbruck	Austria	84
Kuopio	Finland	15

Infrastructure and Budget

Mascots

Venues

All of the venues are located at venue clusters in two major zones in Innsbruck and Seefeld, Olympiaworld Innsbruck and Seefeld Arena. All venues are existing with the exception of the curling and biathlon venues, which will be temporary.^[8]

• Bergisel Stadium – Opening ceremony
• Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck – Bobsleigh, skeleton, luge
• Kühtai – Freestyle skiing (ski cross), snowboard (slopestyle)
• Innsbruck Exhibition Centre – Curling
• Nordkette Innsbruck – Freestyle skiing (halfpipe), snowboard (halfpipe)
• Patscherkofel – Alpine skiing
• OlympiaWorld Innsbruck – Ice hockey, short-track speed skating, figure skating
• Eisschnellaufbahn – Speed skating
• Seefeld Arena
  • Biathlon Course – Biathlon (temporary venue)
  • Cross-Country World Cup Course – Cross Country Skiing
  • Gschwandtkopf Cross Course – Ski/Snowboard Cross
  • Olympic Ski Jump Normal Hill – Nordic combined, ski-jumping

The Games

Participating nations

In accordance with IOC guidelines, only youths aged between 14 and 19 years will be able to participate in the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics. Unlike the Olympic Games, the youth athletes taking part in the YOG will be expected to stay in the host city throughout the Games to take part in an integrated sport and culture and education programme (CEP). The qualification criteria for participation in the Games differs by sport, and are determined by the NOCs and international sports federations.^[9]