The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Tuesday named the eight-member commission who will oversee the evaluation process for selecting an African host city for the 4th Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in 2022.
The Chair will be Ugur Erdener, the IOC Vice-President from Turkey who is also President of World Archery and the Turkish NOC. Erdener in 2016 led an IOC working group on the Youth Olympics to review the repositioning and evolution of the event that was first staged in Singapore in 2010. He continues to Chair a Steering Committee to help drive the future of the event.
Erdener was a member of the Olympic Games Evaluation Commissions for 2024 and 2028 when Paris and Los Angeles were awarded the Games simultaneously.
Also on the new Commission is IOC Executive Board Member Gunilla Lindberg who chaired the Evaluation Commission and Coordination Commission for the 2018 Winter Games that were held in PyeongChang.
An IOC statement said “The IOC Evaluation Commission composition reflects the diversity of the Olympic Movement, and includes members from all continents, representing athletes, National Olympic Committees and International Federations.”
“The IOC Evaluation Commission will act as a link between the interested parties, the IOC and Olympic Movement stakeholders, thereby ensuring that the best partner to co-construct the Youth Olympic Games in 2022 is found.”
The team will be responsible for recommending options to the IOC Executive Board in September before a vote is made confirm the 2022 host city at a Session in Buenos Aires in October where the 2018 YOG are to be held.
IOC President Thomas Bach said “It’s time for Africa.”
“Africa is the home of so very many successful Olympic athletes. It is also the continent of youth. This is why we want to take the Youth Olympic Games 2022 to Africa. This is why the IOC will proactively approach a number of African NOCs to evaluate the feasibility of bringing the YOG to Africa.”
IOC Plans Simplified Process To Elect 2022 Youth Olympic Games Host City In Africa
An Olympic competition has never been held in Africa.
The IOC has said that it has received interest from Dakar in Senegal, Tunis in Tunisia and Abuja in Nigeria – and are currently involved in discussions. The IOC is only considering bids from Africa for 2022.
Bangkok in Thailand and Mumbai in India have indicated interest in hosting the event in 2026.
Erdener said Tuesday “In choosing to target Africa, we are following the new principles adopted by the IOC Session to replace the competitive stage seen in previous Youth Olympic Games host city selections.”
“It will make the process more streamlined, simpler and shorter. Africa has so much to offer the world and we are convinced that an African nation can now take the opportunity of the Youth Olympic Games to showcase this to the rest of the world.”
Interested bids have a Friday (April 27) deadline to submit initial bid details to the IOC. Qualified bid will be accepted as candidates in July.
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The full composition of the Evaluation Commission is as follows (source IOC):
Chair of the Commission and International Federations representative
Ugur Erdener (TUR)
Members
Beatrice Allen (GAM)
Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)
Neven Ilic (CHI)
Gunilla Lindberg (SWE)
Li Lingwei (CHN)
Lydia Nsekera (BDI)
Auvita Rapilla (PNG)
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