Buenos Aires – April 6. There are just six months left before the opening of the first edition of the
Youth Olympic Games on Latin American soil. During the first two weeks of October the Argentine
capital will be at the centre of the Olympic stage and will host the biggest multisport competition in the
world for young high performance athletes.
The date is set for October 6. In downtown Buenos Aires with the city’s iconic obelisk in the background,
the Youth Olympic Games will commence for 12 days of the biggest cultural and multisport celebration
in Argentina’s history.
Tens of thousands of people in the streets and millions more via television and social networks will be
witness to the start of a unique global event: 3,998 athletes, 206 countries, 32 sports, 286
competitions sessions, 468 sport initiation sessions, and 800 cultural and educational activities.
The public will be able to see the best young athletes on the planet in action in the third summer edition
of the Youth Olympic Games.
In October, Buenos Aires will be the Olympic capital of the world. The International Olympic
Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board will meet from October 3-4 in the city; four days later the IOC will
hold a plenary session. In addition, from October 8-9 the first Olympism in Action Forum will take
place, opening the debate about the future of Olympism.
The athletes will get to experience one of the big legacy landmarks of the Games: The Youth Olympic
Village, a new model neighbourhood in the city’s south that will be home to thousands of people when
the Games are finished.
There will be 29 sport venues spread between the Urban Park, Green Park, Tecnopolis Park, the Youth
Olympic Centre, with the same number of stand alone venues where the best young athletes in the
world will compete amid a festive environment.
The Youth Olympic Centre will be the principal site for the competitions. After the Games it will
become a sport complex for high performance Argentine athletes.
Within the concept of Buenos Aires 2018 Celebrates, Olympism will not only travel through the
stadiums, but also throughout Buenos Aires with its variety of cultural activities on offer.
This year the Buenos Aires 2018 Organising Committee’s cultural, sport and educational activities will
reach around 500,000 children and youth and will have reached a million people in its four years of
duration.
Once the Olympic fire is lit in Greece, the Youth Olympic flame will be born. The Torch Tour will travel
more than 10,000 kilometres from the north to the south during August and September, bringing the
Olympic spirit to all corners of Argentina.
In just 184 days, Buenos Aries will become a beacon for the Olympic values of respect, friendship and
excellence. And its light will aim to illuminate the world.
Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee
prensa@buenosaires2018.com
About the Youth Olympic Games
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international, multi-sport event for young athletes aged 15-18
with an educative and cultural nature that aims to foster the Olympic values in youth. The event, which
takes place every four years (in its two versions, winter and summer, that alternate every two years), is
promoted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic
Games will be held from October 6 -18 with the participation of 3998 athletes from 206 countries.
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