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Does The Yog 'lessen' The Olympics?


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But as a life-long Olympic enthusiast....I feel that the YOG cheapens the Olympics. Now you can win an Olympic medal as a teenager. Also, as an American...I find it difficult to find others who respect the Olympics and what they stand for. These 'new' games seem to make the Olympic Games less special. And, to me, these games are obviously not to put on that same level as the regular Olympics. Saying 'regular' Olympics hurts.

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Hard to say, because they're not really getting that much attention (at least not here in the US.)

FIFA does have a bunch of other World Cups though. There's the U-20 and U-17 World Cups which would be an equivalent to the YOG. Yet, THE World Cup is still one of the most prestigious awards in all of sport.

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Even the 'regular' Olympics hardly register with some people. I was watching one of those 'late shows' the other night, I forget which now, & one of the guys in the audience was asked if he knew where the upcoming Winter Olympics were going to be held - needless to say, the guy had no clue.

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Barely getting any mention. I doubt 95% of people here in the UK even know they exist, let alone care. So no, they won't lessen the Olympics because they barely register for most.

95% would be generous. I suggest under 99%!

I wonder what UK % could tell you where the Winter Olympics are being held this February. Under 20%?

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The YOG does lessen the name of the games a tiny bit because it adds more levels of plurality of the multiple flames going every which way which was already heatedly debated when the winter games got started, but I'm convinced that time will show this is a more concerted effort to involve smaller and poorer countries in the movement. It's focus on youth is a bit of a segway into the promotion of rebuilding the third and second world starting with the youngest generations and making sports an accessible vehicle for internationally-minded social structures. That and those smaller countries will be able to see their own victories in winning medals and hosting duties that would otherwise only MAYBE exist once in a lifetime at the full Olympic level. Look at Singapore, it would NEVER host a full Olympics. EVER.

The modern Olympics themselves have created their own community of athletes who train professionally for Olympic events, whereas a long time ago all athletes were amateurs. The YOG recreates some of that amateur passion, "people power", and will likely serve to bridge bridge the gap between people and amateurs with high level competition and professionalism that people may feel with the current modern games. (Ice hockey and basketball anybody?)

Besides all that, overall viewership and interest will dictate what lessens the name of the games. I guarantee you based on first hand experience that 99.9999% of people in the US don't even know what the YOG are, or even what the Pan-Am games are for that matter, which have been in the US twice (I think). The value will only be in the eyes of the nations interested. For example, Canada is probably the only country that really cares about the WJHC whereas you'd be hard pressed to find knowledgeable fans of it elsewhere. :P

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Hi All,

In fact I agreed with you. Even in Singapore, the atmosphere is not so great.... yet(now already less than 200 days to YOG). The public here now is discussing whether they can watch FIFA World Cup in Singapore or not (FIFA is charging very high brocasting cost to Singapore, 40 millions US dollar), rather than about YOG. The activitities conducted by SYOGOC for past few months were quite in small scale (except 1 Year CountDown party, and the launching of the emblem). It does not mean we want to see a very grand event, but at least open and accessible to public.

Taking the recent announcement of torch Relay Route as an example, SYOCOG rather do it in a small conference room, than going out to any community place to make the announcement. Believe me, in Singapore, any community hub can have easily at least thousand of peoples pass by. This is the great chance for the public to know about YOG! Blue blue blue....

However, you will never know any legacy will be left after the YOG being held in Singapore, until the days come. At least I still positive with SYOCOG. :)

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95% would be generous. I suggest under 99%!

I wonder what UK % could tell you where the Winter Olympics are being held this February. Under 20%?

I think it's probably the same to some extent here in the States, though probably not as low since we do much better than you Brits. Although, I'd venture to say that a lot of Americans don't care so much about that, rather that the USA kicks ass.

My mother thought they were going to be in London. laugh.gif No, that's the next summer games. There's a summer games and a winter games. I also had to explain to back in October when Rio won its bid that they pick the host city 7 years in advance.

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95% would be generous. I suggest under 99%!

I wonder what UK % could tell you where the Winter Olympics are being held this February. Under 20%?

OK, I was being generous. I honestly don't know whether I'd be aware of them if I didn't post here.

The Winter Olympics, unlike the Summer Games, never has much build up in the UK - it's just suddenly there, on the TV. And once people know it's on, they'll watch it. We can, as a nation, go from not even knowing when or where it is, to watching a sport like curling in our millions at midnight because we have a chance at a medal. And all within the space of a few days.

Edited by RobH
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  • 4 weeks later...

Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps today became the first official Ambassador of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The 16-time Olympic medallist, who is visiting Vancouver to catch some of the Olympic Winter Games action, will support the Youth Olympic Games by encouraging the involvement of young people around the world.

Michael Phelps said “The Youth Olympic Games is an excellent initiative, not only for the athletes competing, but also those who are inspired to get into sport and be more active. I am delighted that I have been given the opportunity to become the first official Ambassador of the Youth Olympic Games, and can’t wait to get working with the YOG team to promote the first event this summer!”

IOC President Jacques Rogge said “We are delighted that Michael is supporting our efforts to launch the Youth Olympic Games. Preparations for the inaugural edition in Singapore are on track, and the IOC is looking forward to welcoming 3,600 athletes to Singapore this summer!”

http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Media/?articleId=77431&articleNewsGroup=-1

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder if there was a similar discussion like this before with the separation of Summer and Winter sports into separate Olympiads. But I guess, the arguments would have been more driven by practicality than age brackets.

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I wonder if there was a similar discussion like this before with the separation of Summer and Winter sports into separate Olympiads. But I guess, the arguments would have been more driven by practicality than age brackets.

Well, yes, there was a bit of in-fighting and controversy before the WOGs got up - more political that practical, though

The proposals had been around for a while, but Scandinavian opposition (they had their own Nordic winter sports games they wanted to protect) had held up the establishment of the WOGs till the mid-20s(and remember, they happened retrospectively anyway - Chamonix wasn't really recognised as an "official" Olympic Games until after the event).

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I'll never understand it. I mean, I get the point...to encourage kids to get into sport and make sport cool. But really, how can a kiddie event organized every four years have much of an impact? When you're a kid, four years is an eternity! And in some sports, the competitors are almost kids anyway. Seems as if many Olympic gymnasts, divers, and female figure skaters are younger than 20 to begin with.

I feel that to really encourage kids to get into sport, you do so at the local, grassroots level. Not through another elite global competition that only happens once every four years.

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I don't know how these games will play a role in developing Future American Olympians.

A 14 year old Male sprinter may not have a career as a sprinter like Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay. He may end up playing another sport such as American Football or basketball, especially if he's great at that other sport. Same for the female American athletes likely to be competing in these games.

In regards to the regular Olympics....in Beijing in 2008 the only recognizable names to many Americans coming into those games were the NBA stars, especially Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Of course, we see these guys play 82 games a year for several months, so we know who these guys are. Same went for Vancouver last month. Granted, the NHL players don't have the international recognition as the NBA players, but they are still known. It's just the way it is. Ask most American sports fans to name five NBA players and they'll name: Kobe, LeBron, Shaq, DWade and someone else (some will say Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki or Yao Ming or whoever is a top flight NBA star) and they won't even stop at five. Ask most American sports fans to name five swimmers or sprinters, and they'll be lucky to name three....probably Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, but that's it. The United States is a "team oriented" country in regards to its athletes, and unless it's someone super special or very mainstream (Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, some tennis stars, some Race car drivers such as Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson), American athletes in individual sports are largely ignored.

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I'll never understand it. I mean, I get the point...to encourage kids to get into sport and make sport cool. But really, how can a kiddie event organized every four years have much of an impact? When you're a kid, four years is an eternity! And in some sports, the competitors are almost kids anyway. Seems as if many Olympic gymnasts, divers, and female figure skaters are younger than 20 to begin with.

I feel that to really encourage kids to get into sport, you do so at the local, grassroots level. Not through another elite global competition that only happens once every four years.

The Olympic Movement in general has that lofty goal of inspiring people to take up sport. The Games themselves, whether regular or Youth, is the thing for people to look up to, to idealize, the spark that inspires. London 2012 has a number of initiatives to engage people to take up sport. These programs and aspect of the Games are not really talked about around here. I think the Youth Olympic Games will just have a stronger focus in this department within whatever region they're being hosted in.

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  • 1 month later...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Struggling Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has agreed to help promote this year's inaugural Youth Olympics alongside swimmer Michael Phelps, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.

The first Youth Olympics, aimed at fighting obesity and promoting a more active lifestyle among young people, will take place in Singapore in August and will attract some 3,600 athletes aged 14-18.

...

IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters on Tuesday qualification for the athletes was already under way. The IOC will also conduct some 1,000 doping tests at the event.

"Hopefully there will not be any positive cases to report," Rogge said, adding the IOC had been surprised by the interest of broadcasters in the event.

He said 15 deals with individual broadcasters had been signed to show taped or live extracts of the competitions.

"Preparation is superb and the best athletes of the world in their age category will be there," Rogge said of his brainchild.

http://in.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idINIndia-48035020100427?sp=true

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  • 1 month later...

[PRESS RELEASE] IOC announces line-up of sport stars supporting the first Youth Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced the list of Singapore 2010 Athlete Role Models (ARMs) for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games from 14 to 26 August in Singapore.

The list features many legendary names from the world of sport. The role models were appointed by the International Federations taking part in the Youth Olympic Games and by the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

The Athlete Role Models will be in Singapore to mentor the 3,600 young athletes who are expected to attend the Youth Olympic Games. Among other activities, the ARMs will spend time with the athletes and will participate in activities during the Culture and Education Programme, which will focus on five themes: Olympism and Olympic values, skill development, well-being and healthy lifestyles, social responsibility and expression through digital media.

Athletes at the Youth Olympic Games will be encouraged to engage in conversation with the ARMs, who will attend the competitions, visit the Youth Olympic Village and feature in “Chat with Champions” forums designed to inspire and educate the participants with personal accounts of their own dreams and experiences, and the challenges they have overcome.

...

The list of Athlete Role Models follows:

Archery - Wietse van Alten NED

Athletics - Wilson Kipketer DEN

Badminton - Poul Erik HoyerLarsen DEN

Badminton - Xu Huaiwen GER

Basketball - Andrew Gaze AUS

Basketball - Oscar Schmidt BRA

Basketball - Alexandar Djordjevic SER

Basketball - Michelle Timms AUS

Boxing - Domenico Valentino ITA

Canoeing - Tony Estanguet FRA

Cycling - Frédéric Magné -FRA

Equestrian - Lisen Bratt SWE

Fencing - Valentina Vezzali ITA

Football - TBC

Gymnastics - Jani Tanskanen -FIN

Judo - Ruben Houkes NED

Handball - TBC

Hockey - Andrew Smith AUS

Modern Pentathlon - Georgina Harland GBR

Rowing - Lenka Wech GER

Sailing - Michael Gebhardt USA

Shooting - Matthew Emmons USA

Diving - Guo Jingjing CHN

Table Tennis - Jean-Philippe Gatien FRA

Taekwondo - Daniel Trenton AUS

Tennis - Ai Sugiyama JPN

Triathlon - Hamish Carter NZL

Weightlifting - Pawina Thongsuk THA

Wrestling - Daniel Robin FRA

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Robert Balk USA

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Claudia Bokel GER

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Sergey Bubka UKR

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Charmaine Crooks CAN

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Hicham El Guerrouj MAR

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Rania Elwani EGY

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Frank Fredericks NAM

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Barbara Kendal NZL

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Yumilka Ruiz Luaces CUB

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Dae Sung Moon KOR

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Adam Pengilly GBR

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Alexander Popov RUS

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Angela Ruggiero USA

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Rebecca Scott CAN

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Peter Tallberg FIN

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Pedro Yang GUA

IOC Athletes’ Commission - Yang Yang CHN

http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Media/?articleId=91370&articleNewsGroup=-1

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