Organizers of the 9th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in Slask-Beskidy, Poland are putting the final touches on preparations for the multisport event with less than one month to go until the opening ceremony.
Polish NOC officials and city authorities are finalizing plans for the EYOF that takes place across five sites - Szczyrk, Wisła, Tychy, Cieszyn and Bielsko-Biała – from Feb. 15-20.
More than 1,100 young athletes from 46 European countries will participate in nine events at the EYOF: Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski-jumping, Nordic combined, snowboard, figure skating, ice hockey and curling.
Victor Sanchez Naranjo, secretary of the European Olympic Committees EYOF Commission, tells Around the Rings that preparations are going well and reports no major concerns. “They have prepared a long time for this and I think they will be ready,” he said.
“It is a good opportunity to show everybody that they have venues to host events at a level of winter sports for Olympic-related competitions. I think they will organize very good competitions there,” Naranjo said.
On Feb. 5, the EYOF Olympic Torch will be lit at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland in the presence of a high level delegation from Poland led by the Polish NOC President Piotr Nurowski. EOC President Patrick Hickey, Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi and members of the EOC's Executive Committee will join him.
Eurosport, the TV station broadcasting the opening and closing ceremonies and daily highlights of the EYOF in tandem with Polish TV, will also broadcast some of the torch-lighting ceremony.
Speaking at November's EOC congress in Istanbul, Turkey, Hickey said the EYOF had gone “from strength to strength” and was a model for the Youth Olympic Games; the inaugural summer edition of the YOG is in Singapore next year.
With reporting from Mark Bisson.
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