(ATR) More than 2,000 teenage athletes from five continents are expected for the biggest-ever Australian Youth Olympic Festival this January in Sydney.
Plans for the 2007 AYOF were announced by the Australian Olympic Committee at a press conference in Sydney.
The five-day event will be held from January 17-21 2007.
The biennial AYOF has become one of the leading multi-sport, Olympic-style events in the world for teenagers since its inception in 2001.
With the coming of the Beijing Olympics in less than two years, the AOC says it has received word from China that as many as 294 athletes and officials could attend in their grooming for 2008.
Likewise, a large delegation, 165, is expected from Great Britain, which has launched a major effort to prepare teams for the London Games.
Japan is forecast to send 140 athletes, New Zealand 239 and South Africa 140.
Australia will supply the biggest contingent, 740.
New sports on the program include football, sailing and the winter sports of short track speed skating and figure skating.
"We started with ten sports on the program in 2001 and we have grown to 16 sports in 2007," said AOC President John Coates at the launch.
"It is here at Homebush Sydney Olympic Park where we built the stage for future generations of Australian athletes to launch their international careers," said Coates.
The AOC says 28 Australian athletes from the 2001 and 2003 AYOFs competed at the Athens Games, winning eight medals.
The AYOF takes place at the height of the Australian summer when schools are on holiday break.
To help build attendance, entry to all events is free.
More on the 2007 AYOF can be found at the AOC website,
olympics.com.au.
PUBLICIDAD
PUBLICIDAD
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
