Reporting from The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco – Based on the recommendation of the Evaluation Commission, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board today shortlisted the cities of Lausanne, Switzerland and Brașov, Romania as candidate cities for the Youth Olympic Games in 2020 – the only two cities that had applications in for the bid.
“We are very honored to hear that the IOC has recognized many of our proposal’s unique strengths,” said Patrick Baumann, President of the Bid Committee.
“This project is extremely well received across all of Switzerland and the support we have received is overwhelming.”
Now the IOC will be asking additional questions of the candidate cities in preparation for a March 11 -12 videoconference call early next year that will form the basis of an evaluation report due by June. The IOC is expected to announce its decision July 31, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur.
“Hosting the Youth Olympic Games makes a lot of sense for our city, which was chosen 100 years ago by Baron Pierre de Coubertin as the home of the modern Olympic Movement,” Lausanne Mayor Daniel Brélaz said.
Brasov, home to about 250,000, hosted the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival and boasts several universities.
The Executive Board meeting concludes Saturday and will be followed by a crucial all members session next week where President Thomas Bach’s Agenda 2020 proposals will be put to a vote. Among the reforms being tabled are two regarding the Youth Olympics. One idea is to schedule the Games in odd years following the 2020 Games (starting in 2023) and another will be to take a hard look at the positioning of the Youth Games.
The Youth Games reforms will be discussed Tuesday morning at the Session in Monaco.
Since their inception in Singapore in 2010 after then IOC President Jacques Rogge conceived the Youth Games vision – the concept has failed to deliver on its goals to effectively engage youth around the world and propagate the values of sport.
