From International Olympic Committee Headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland today it was announced that Innsbruck, Austria has been elected to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games to be held in 2012. The announcement was also made live on the Internet by IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Innsbruck defeated Kuopio, Finland in a postal ballot election among IOC members last month – the vote was 84-15. Lillehammer, Norway and Harbin, China also applied to host the Games but were excluded from the ballot after evaluation reports last month.
Innsbruck has a rich winter sports history, having already hosted two Olympic Winter Games, in 1964 and 1976. With many venues already constructed and significant experience, the city was seen as a safe choice for the IOC considering the short preparation time and the current worldwide economic downturn.
Earlier this year Singapore was chosen to host the inaugural Youth Summer Olympic Games to be held in 2010. The Youth Olympic programme was introduced last year by IOC president Jacques Rogge as a strategy to interest young people in sport so they’ll spend less time watching television and using computers and video games.
Watch GamesBids.com for more news as this story develops.
