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Rogge proposes youth Olympic Games
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-20 09:51
IOC president Jacques Rogge wants to launch an Olympic Games for teenagers in 2010.
Rogge said in an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe published Monday that the proposed "Youth Olympic Games" would feature athletes aged 14 to 18.
"It's a project I've had in the works since my arrival at the IOC presidency in 2001," Rogge said.
The IOC is conducting a feasibility study on the proposal, which will be discussed at the IOC executive board meeting in Beijing on April 25-27.
Rogge said most international sports federations approached about the idea have not opposed it. He envisions about 3,500 athletes competing in largely the same sports as those in the regular Olympics.
The event would be patterned after the European Olympic Festival, which Rogge established in 1991 when he was head of the European Olympic Committees. The European event, held every other year, has summer and winter versions.
Rogge noted that a number of Olympic champions competed in the European youth games, including Belgian tennis star Justine Henin, Croatian skier Janica Kostelic and Swedish skier Anja Paerson.
Rogge said the global event should use existing sports venues and not require host cities to build new facilities.
On a separate issue, Rogge said the three cities bidding for the 2014 Winter Olympics were "very close." The candidates are Sochi, Russia, Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. The IOC will select the host city on July 4 in Guatemala City.
"I predict a close vote, very close," Rogge said.
Rogge said Salzburg's candidacy would not be affected by doping allegations against the Austrian delegation at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
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