11 cities bid for 2010 Youth Olympics

LAUSANNE (IOC) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that 11 cities have been put forward by their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to apply to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010. The Candidate Cities, in alphabetical order, are:
Algiers 2010 (Algeria)
Athens 2010 (Greece)
Bangkok 2010 (Thailand)
Belgrade 2010 (Republic of Serbia)
Debrecen 2010 (Hungary)
Guatemala City 2010 (Guatemala)
Kuala Lumpur 2010 (Malaysia)
Moscow 2010 (Russian Federation)
Poznan 2010 (Poland)
Singapore 2010 (Singapore)
Turin 2010 (Italy).

The NOCs had until 31 August 2007, midnight, to notify the IOC that a city within their jurisdiction was interested in applying.

The 11 Youth Olympic Games Candidate Cities now have until 26 October to prepare and submit their Candidature Files by replying to the IOC questionnaire. An analysis of their Files by a panel of Olympic Movement experts will allow a short list of Youth Olympic Games Candidate Cities to be drawn up for further evaluations by an IOC Evaluation Commission.

For young people - driven by young people
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are a 12-day multi-sport, cultural and educational event for young people and driven by young people. The YOG will add a new dimension to the Olympic ideal, complementing what is already being achieved through the Olympic Games and the numerous IOC projects to bring the Olympic values alive.

Participants
Guaranteeing the universality of the YOG, the IOC will make sure that approximately
3,500 athletes and 875 officials from all 205 National Olympic Committees are associated with the YOG. In parallel, all NOCs will have representatives in the educational workshops and cultural programmes at the Games.

The age groups participating in a sport or discipline will vary between 14 and 18 years, as defined by the relevant International Federation (IF). As a principle, there will be one age group e.g. 14/15,15/16 or 17/18 participating in a sport or discipline.

Format
The periodicity of the YOG is that of an Olympiad, i.e. every four years, with the first
edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games starting in 2010. The Summer YOG will last a maximum of 12 days, and will be in mid-summer.