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Rogge: No national anthems or flags at proposed Youth Olympics
(AP)
Updated: 2007-05-14 10:13
National flags and anthems would be excluded from the Youth Olympics to avoid any form of nationalism.
IOC president Jacques Rogge gave further details of the proposed games in an interview Friday in the French sports daily L'Equipe.
The youth event _ for athletes aged 14-18 _ was endorsed last month by the IOC executive board in Beijing and goes to the full International Olympic Committee assembly for approval in Guatemala City in July.
The games would begin in 2010 with a summer version and a winter version in 2012. Each would take place every four years, with the summer games lasting 10 days and the winter version one week. About 3,000 athletes would participate in the summer version and 1,000 in the winter.
The event would feature Olympic sports and resemble the traditional games in many ways.
"Only one thing will be different," Rogge said. "There will be no national flags or anthems to avoid all nationalism. The only flag raised during the medal ceremonies will be the Olympic flag, and the only anthem will be the Olympic anthem."
Rogge also gave the first indication of how much the youth games will cost, saying host cities would need to spend US$30 million to US$40 million on infrastructure and lodging _ a far cry from the multi-billion-dollar budgets for the Summer Olympics.
The IOC, meanwhile, will pay the travel costs and room and board for all athletes and judges _ an estimated US$11 million, Rogge said. The money will come from the IOC's own funds and will not be drawn from Olympic revenues.
"No infrastructure will need to be built specifically for the event," Rogge said. "Many cities have university campuses which could serve as the Olympic village. Only existing stadiums would be used. There will be no need for arenas capable of holding 50,000 people. A stadium for 5,000 to 10,000 will be enough."
Rogge confirmed that Moscow and Singapore are among the cities which have expressed interest in hosting the event. The 2010 host city will be selected in late 2008, he said.
Rogge acknowledged that the games may not attract big media interest or large crowds.
"The event is not held to draw spectators, but to develop and educate young athletes for competitions of the future," he said, adding that the IOC will produce its own television footage of the games and offer it free to rights holders.
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