The Olympics just became kid friendly!
Beginning in 2010, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will sponsor the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), a multi-sport competition that will mirror the current Olympic program. Athletes aged from 14 to 18 will be eligible to compete in the games that will include all the sports that take place in the Olympic Games, but with a limited number of events and disciplines.
The YOG would alternate every four years; the summer events would be staged in the years of the Olympic Winter Games, and the winter events would be staged in the years of the Summer Olympic Games.
Singapore was recently chosen as the site for the first Summer Youth Olympic Games. The inaugural Winter YOG will take place in 2012, with the site to be chosen in the near future. The IOC expects 3,000 athletes for the Summer YOG that will last 10 days, and 1,000 athletes for the seven-day Winter YOG.
The Youth Olympic Games will sponsor educational programs to complement the competition. The aim of these games will be to educated young athletes on the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values sport can deliver, and the dangers of doping and of training to excess and/or of inactivity.
