Place, Singapore. Date, 14th to 26th August, 2010. Event, a new file in the history of sports is about to be opened, it’s called The First Youth Olympic Games Singapore is recording its name to be the country that first hosts the Youth Olympic Games, (YOG); an event that is expected to be one of its kind according to either the athletic records or to the organizing skills.
The idea was first introduced in 2001during the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in
Guatemala by IOC President, Jacques Rogge. In July 2007, The IOC decided to create a new sporting event to educate, engage and influence young athletes that would inspire them to play an active role in their communities. The sports calendar for this tournament includes 26 sports , but with a small number of disciplines and events, some would be non-Olympic with mixed gender and mixed NOC events.

The Youth Olympic Games will not be only about sports, but will also include a cultural, educational and environmental programme that focuses on five themes. The themes would set the context relevant for the athletes to learn, contribute, interact and celebrate the Olympic spirit and Olympic values, skills development, well-being and healthy lifestyle, social responsibility and expression through digital media.

This tournament is expected to bring together, about 5000 athletes between 14 and 18 years-old who will compete in 26 sports and take part in culture and education programmes; and officials from the 205 National Olympic Committees, in addition to an estimated 1200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers, and more than 370,000 spectators.
The days between the 14th and the 26th of August will be the busiest, most exciting, energetic and active 12 days of the lives of those who live in Singapore and the athletes who will arrive there from all different parts of the world. For 12 days the athletes will be competing in the name of their countries, organising officials and volunteers will be anxious to show the world they can
achieve something that deserves to be mentioned in
history.
For 12 days the whole world would be looking toward the nation of Singapore to witness the future champions as they compete, learn and not only achieve records for their country or their personal resume, but also offering something for their societies and the planet they live on.

Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame

Just like the Original Olympic Games, there’s a flame, a torch and a journey around the world, to light up the flame that would last through all the days of the tournament.
The torch will be traveling around the world, connecting and uniting people, and specifically youth, of all races and places to participate in the journey of respect, friendship and sporting spirit, it’s the Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame, (JYOF) or JAYOF, as pronounced by the IOC.
The tradition will be as follow;,first, the flame was in Greece, home of the Olympic games on 23rd July 2010 and is travel around the world visiting all continents to spread the spirit and joy of Olympism. The torch would be visiting a city in each continent till
it reaches its host city on 7th August for celebrations that will last untila the official light ceremony. In each city the flame will visit the iconic landmarks and the day would come to an end by a city celebration that will be attended by youth of each city.
Europe is represented by the city of Berlin, Germany.Then the trip continues to Dakar in Senegal, the city that would represent the continent of Africa. The flame then would light up the Americas in Mexico City, Mexico and then off to Auckland in New Zealand, the city representing Oceania. Seoul, on the Korean Republic, would be the last stop for the flame before reaching its final destination, Singapore. But that’s not it, the flame would first, go around five community districts, with a traditional round-island Torch Pass-on, and also ending the day in each district with a festival of celebrations and enthusiasm.

The Youth Olympic Games Torch’s design is inspired by fire and water. That’s obvious in the water-wavelike body and the flame on the top. This fusion of these two lively elements in all our lives represents the passion and desire of excelling by the fire, and representing Singapore with all its Seaports and dynamic nature as an island nation. The torch is made of aluminum, and
its handle is coated with a non-slip material. It is 60cm tall and 5-8 cm wide and weighs about a Kilogramme. A simple flame passed hand to hand Not by the fastest or the strongest, But by people whose greatest gift is what they give of themselves Because, it’s not just what you do for the record books,
It’s what you do for others.
That is the vision of the Olympic Torch Relay

Lyo and Merly – the mascots

Lyo & Merly, a lion and a Merlion, they are the mascots for the first Youth Olympic games, they’re both original Singaporean icons and also they are a lion and a merlion cub, representing the youth participating in the Tournament.
Lyo the lion cub has a fiery mane that symbolises passion for life, energy, and youthfulness. Lyo’s mane resembles the Flame of Passion of the Spirit of Youth, the emblem of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. It also calls to mind the Singapore 2010 tagline ‘Blazing the Trail’. His paw is shaped like Singapore Island. The mascot was chosen according to a legend that says, that a prince visited an amazing tropical island a long time ago, upon landing; he spotted a beautiful lion, and so named the island ‘Singapura’, which means ‘Lion City’. The name Lyo is actually the initials of the “Lion of Youth Olympics”
Merly, the second mascot, has a name that consists of two parts, “Mer “which means “The Sea” and “Ly”
for liveliness and youthfulness.
Merly is a Merlion, which is a mythical sea creature that is part lion and part fish. It is inspired by Singaporean folklore and
Singapore’s fishing village origins. Also its paw is shaped like a heart as a symbol of being loving and caring.

What Makes YOG different from the traditional Olympic games?

Well, the sports are almost the same but with a limited number of disciplines and events. And also the International Olympic committee decided not to include some sports, like water polo and synchronized swimming for aquatic sports, and the slalom discipline of canoeing on the schedule of events. Basketball would be “Street Ball” which is kind of the same but the matches would be held in outdoors courts and with fewer players. As for cycling sports, mountain bike, BMX, road and track cycling were not included in the schedules. On the other hand pentathlon and sailing were, giving an edge to participating nations near water.

Great Stars Inspiring Rising Stars in the Youth Olympic Games

Despite the fact that the Youth Olympics was already a defining event, the International Olympic Committee has taken its uniqueness one step further by getting Olympic stars and legends to participate in inspiring and encouraging the young aspiring athletes. The IOC has announced a list of athletes names, The List of Singapore 2010 Athlete Role Models (ARMs), featuring Legendary Sports names from around the world, like; Alexander Popov, Rania Elwani, Hicham El Guerrouj, Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps.

The ARM’s mission is to mentor the athletes who will participate in the games, spend time with them and participate with them in the activities of the cultural and educational programme. The young athletes are encouraged to engage in conversation with the ARMs , who will be attending the competitions and visiting the Olympic villages, and feature in the “Chat With The Champions” forums that are designed to inspire, and educate the participants with personal accounts of the ARM’s own dreams and experiences and the challenges they have overcome.

These are not just great athletes the International Federations have chosen, these are also inspirational people. “I am sure the young athletes will enjoy being around them, and they will learn a great deal about what it takes to be a top athlete and live by the Olympic values,” said Sergey Bubka, Olympic Goldmedal-winner and member of the IOC, who is also one
of the ARMs Such gestures give the young athletes a motivation to do their best and hope that one day they might be an ARM who will be inspiring and encouraging another young athlete.

Who is going to make history?

In the first Youth Olympic games Singapore 2010; 74 young Egyptian athletes (42 male - 32 female) will represent Egypt in 17 different sports; archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, handball, modern pentathlon, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling).
This number of athletes is not small, and that is because of all the support the athletes get and the efforts made to improve sports infrastructure in Egypt by the government through The National Sports Council with Eng. Hassan Sakr as its President

Egyptian Olympic History

If we take a look at Egypt’s Olympic history, we’ll find 24 different Olympic medals; 13 of them are for martial arts sports, like wrestling, boxing, judo, taekwondo, and nine other medals in sports like weightlifting and there are 2 for diving by Farid Semeika. This proves that the Egyptian sports strengths lies in the martial arts and weightlifting, since these types of sports do not require
a lot of funds and facilities, unlike other sports like archery, swimming, Horse riding and Athletics.

The Egyptian delegation

There are many names on the List of the Egyptian Delegation In the individual sports, like modern pentathlon, for example there’s Jihan el Medany, the silver medalist from the youth world championships 2009, and the bronze from the same championships in 2008, and Hesham Yehia, The bronze medal winner from the youth world championship, Azerbaijan 2010. and in table tennis, there are two stars of the African Continent Dina Meshref and Omar Bedair. As for the team sports, there are three Egyptian teams participating; the girls volleyball team, the boys basketball team, and the boys handball team.
Will our young champions achieve great results and be able to put Egypt’s name in the top rankings list? The young ages, small age differences, means that their chances are very good at getting a good number of medals and achieving great records: Will they? We will see.
Now let’s take a look, in detail in the coming pages at the Egyptian Athletes delegation, wishing them the best of luck and success.