2012 Winter Youth Olympics

I Winter Youth Olympic Games

Official logo
Host city Innsbruck, Austria
Motto Be part of it! (German: Seien Dabei!)
Nations participating 70[1]
Athletes participating 1,059
Events 63
Opening ceremony 13 January 2012 (2012-01-13)
Closing ceremony 22 January 2012 (2012-01-22)
Officially opened by Heinz Fischer
President of Austria
Officially closed by Jacques Rogge
President of the IOC
Athlete's Oath Christina Ager
Coach's Oath Angelika Neuner
Torch Lighter
Main venue Bergiselschanze
Lillehammer 2016  >

The 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (German: Olympische Jugend-Winterspiele 2012), officially known as the I Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), were an international multi-sport event for youths that took place in Innsbruck, on 13-22 January 2012. They were the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics, a major sports and cultural festival celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games. Approximately 1100 athletes from 70 countries competed. 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 is the first city to host three winter Olympic events, having previously hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics and the 1976 Winter Olympics.[2]

Organization

Host city election

A map of Austria with Innsbruck marked in the west part of the country.
Innsbruck
Location of Innsbruck in Austria.

All four applicant cities were kept as candidate cities by the IOC in August 2008. Swedish skier Pernilla Wiberg was the Evaluation Chair for the Commission to score the applicant cities.[3] In November 2008, two cities (Harbin and Lillehammer) were cut from the list, leaving both Kuopio and Innsbruck in the running.[4] On 12 December, the final vote was revealed to be 84 votes to 15, with Innsbruck winning the hosting rights.[5]

Infrastructure and budget

All venues that will be used for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics were existing (besides the athlete's village) when Innsbruck was awarded the games in 2008. Innsbruck thus proposed a budget of $22.5 million USDs to host and stage the games.[6] The athlete's village will cost roughly $121 million to build.[7]

Marketing

A BMW car with the Innsbruck 2012 logo while the mascot for the games looks on.

Marketing for the games included sponsor BMW painting cars with the Innsbruck 2012 logo and information to spread awareness across Austria.

Sponsors

There are twelve official worldwide partners of the International Olympic Committee such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, which have been designated as "World Olympic Partners" by the organizing committee for the event.[8] The organizing committee also designated fifteen companies as official sponsors and suppliers of which include BMW and Raiffeisen Zentralbank among others.[9] About 60% of the costs associated with the games are expected to be covered by sponsorship by the various companies.[6]

Mascot

Yoggl

The official mascot of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics is a chamois named Yoggl (pronounced YOG). The name is a compound of "Joggl", the Tyrolean nickname for Jakob, and YOG, the acronym of the Youth Olympic Games. He represents respect for nature, the lifestyles and geography of the host country, modernity, youth, and athleticism. The mascot was designed by Florencia Demaría and Luis Andrés Abbiati of Argentina.[10]

Venues

Bergiselschanze staged the Opening ceremony of the event.

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.[11]

Venue Location Sports Capacity
Bergiselschanze Innsbruck Opening ceremony 28,000
Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck Innsbruck Bobsleigh
Luge
Skeleton		 1,500
Seefeld Arena Seefeld Biathlon
Cross-country skiing
Nordic combined
Ski jumping		 2,500
Eisschnellaufbahn Innsbruck Speed skating 2,900
Kühtai Innsbruck Freestyle skiing
Snowboarding		 1,000
Tyrolean Ice Arena Innsbruck Ice hockey 3,130
Olympiahalle Innsbruck Figure skating
Short track speed skating		 10,000
Patscherkofel Tyrol Alpine skiing N/A
Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Innsbruck Curling 1,000

Torch relay

The torch relay of the Games was announced on 9 October 2011, involving 65 sites over 18 days with some 2,012 torchbearers carrying the flame. The torch was lit on 17 December 2011 in Athens, Greece by the first torchbearer Carlos Pecharromán from Spain and the relay began in Innsbruck on 27 December 2011 and ended with the opening ceremony in Bergiselschanze on 13 January 2012. It is the first time the Olympic flame had gone to the same city three times as Innsbruck was also the host of the Winter Olympic Games in 1964 and 1976.[12][13][14]

Route of 2012 Winter Youth Olympics torch relay

Below is the list of route locations:[15]

The Games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the games took place on 13 January 2012, at 6:30 pm CET (5:30 UTC, 13 January) at Bergiselschanze.[16] Roughly 15,000 people packed the snow-filled stadium to watch the ceremony, where for the first time three cauldrons were lit (instead of the normal 1) to commemorate the previous two Winter Olympics Innsbruck has hosted (1964 and 1976). Heinz Fischer, the President of Austria declared the games open.[17]

Closing ceremony

The Closing ceremony took place on 22 January. IOC President Jacques Rogge stated that the first Winter Youth Olympic Games were "ten glorious days" and that the games "exceeded all expectations and laid solid foundations for future Youth Olympic Games".[18]

Participating nations

In accordance with IOC guidelines, only youths aged between 14 and 19 years were 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.[19]

Sports

The YOG featured 63 medal events over 7 sports and 15 disciplines.[11]

Calendar

OCOpening ceremony ●Event competitions 1Event finals EGExhibition Gala CCClosing ceremony
January 13
Fri		 14
Sat		 15
Sun		 16
Mon		 17
Tue		 18
Wed		 19
Thu		 20
Fri		 21
Sat		 22
Sun		 Events
Ceremonies OC CC
Alpine skiing 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 9
Biathlon 2 2 1 5
Bobsleigh 2 2
Cross-country skiing 2 2 1 5
Curling ● ● ● ● 1 ● ● 1 2
Figure skating ● ● 2 2 1 EG 5
Freestyle skiing ● 2 ● 2 4
Ice hockey ● ● ● ● ● ● 2 ● ● 2 4
Luge 1 2 1 4
Nordic combined 1 1
Short track speed skating 2 2 1 5
Skeleton 2 2
Ski jumping 2 1 3
Snowboarding ● 2 2 4
Speed skating 2 2 2 2 8
Total events 6 10 8 6 6 10 3 9 5 63
Cumulative total 6 16 24 30 36 46 49 58 63
January 13
Fri		 14
Sat		 15
Sun		 16
Mon		 17
Tue		 18
Wed		 19
Thu		 20
Fri		 21
Sat		 22
Sun		 Events

Medal table

The top ten listed National Olympic Committees (NOCs) by number of gold medals are listed below with the host nation, Austria, being highlighted. A competition was announced in early 2011 to design the medals that were awarded at the games.[20]

Medals won by teams of athletes from more than one NOC are included in the table as medals awarded to a mixed-NOCs team. There were three events which composed entirely of mixed-NOCs teams, and as such all nine medals in these events, were swept by mixed-NOCs teams.

      Host nation (Austria)

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Germany (GER) 8 7 2 17
2  China (CHN) 7 4 4 15
3  Austria (AUT) 6 4 3 13
4  South Korea (KOR) 6 3 2 11
5  Russia (RUS) 5 4 7 16
6  Netherlands (NED) 4 1 2 7
— Mixed-NOCs 3 3 3 9
7  Switzerland (SUI) 3 0 5 8
8  Japan (JPN) 2 5 9 16
9  Norway (NOR) 2 5 2 9
10  United States (USA) 2 3 3 8

References

  1. ↑ Participating Nations
  2. ↑ Snowboard Club UK (SCUK). "Innsbruck first resort to host three Olympics". Snowboardclub.co.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "IOC Appoints 2012 Youth Games Evaluation Chair". GamesBids. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Innsbruck and Kuopio Make Final Shortlist For 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games". GamesBids. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  5. ↑ "Innsbruck to host 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games". 12 December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  6. 1 2 "1st Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012 Report of the Evaluation Commission" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. November 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Tight Deadline for Innsbruck 2012 YOG Project". Around the Rings. 4 April 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Worldwide Olympic Partners". Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "National Sponsors & Suppliers". Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  10. ↑ "The official YOG mascot's name is Yoggl". Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympic Games. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  11. 1 2 "2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games Sports & Sports Venues" (PDF). Innsbruck 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  12. ↑ Gold, David (9 October 2011). "Innsbruck 2012 announce Youth Olympic Torch relay route". inside the games. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  13. ↑ Gold, David (17 December 2011). "History made in Athens as Innsbruck 2012 flame is lit". inside the games. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  14. ↑ Gold, David (27 December 2011). "Youth Olympic Torch passes through Innsbruck". inside the games. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  15. ↑ "Details on the Youth Olympic Torch Relay". Innsbruck2012.com. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Information on the Opening Ceremony of the 1st Winter Youth Olympics Games". Innsbruck2012.com. 13 January 2011.
  17. ↑ "Snow covered Innsbruck welcomes inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games with charming Opening Ceremony". Insidethegames.biz. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "IOC President Calls Innsbruck 2012 Games "Ten Glorious Days"". Gamesbids.com. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  19. ↑ Innsbruck 2012. "Sport Events And Eligibility Requirements". Innsbruck2012.com. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  20. ↑ "Competition Announced For Innsbruck 2012 Design Medals". Gamesbids.com. Retrieved 29 March 2012.

External links

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