IOC says must capture teenagers' tastes to survive
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-04 10:32

With the average age of Olympics viewers increasing in recent years and youngsters turning fast to other sports competitions like the X Games, the IOC has to change, Jacques Rogge said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the IOC's 119th session in Guatemala City, Rogge said staging Youth Olympics, an event designed to raise the level of enthusiasm and participation of teenagers, was a step in the right direction.

"Just as the IOC has known, over our 100-plus years of existence, how to move with the times ... so we must now adapt to meet the taste of today's young generation," Rogge said.

The IOC has tried to counter the current trend by introducing disciplines in the winter and summer Olympic programme that are popular with young people, including BMX-cross cycling, skicross and snowboarding.

It has taken a blow with the rising popularity of the annual summer and winter X Games, their 13th summer edition coming up next month, offering such sports as BMX freestyle, surfing and Moto X racing.

"The Youth Olympic Games project is also on our agenda this week," Rogge told an audience that included IOC members, heads of internation sports federations and the president of Guatemala Oscar Berger.

"For our movement, and all that it stands for, to remain relevant into the next decade and beyond, we must find ways to keep the appeal of our event," he said.

The IOC though is not expected to limit itself to the Youth Olympics, should they be approved by the session as a project to pursue.

It is also looking to bolster the popularity of the 2012 London Olympics by squeezing skateboarding into the programme, not as a new sport but potentially as a new discipline falling under the control of the International Cycling Union.

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