Curtain Drops on Nanjing Youth Olympics

(ATR) While the opening ceremony at Nanjing 2014 was all about the selfie, the IOC president asked attendees to turn their camera outward at Thursday night’s closing ceremony.

With Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in attendance, Bach asked the crowd of nearly 60,000 at Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre Stadium to "greet and thank the person next to you and take their picture."

During the opening ceremony almost two weeks ago, Thomas Bach urged the YOG athletes to "capture the moment" by sharing photos of themselves via social media. Since then, athletes, media, and spectators alike have beseeched the IOC president with selfie requests.

"To be honest with you, I would never have suspected such an impact at the opening ceremony," Bach said during Thursday’s final Nanjing 2014 press conference.

The selfie craze, which Bach called "awesome" during the closing ceremony, stood out at a Games that also featured the first-ever Sports Lab, highlighting four sports outside of the Olympic Program; the first 8x100 mixed team relay, an event held on a Nanjing street near the Youth Olympic Village featuring over 500 track and field athletes of all disciplines; the Olympic returns of golf and rugby and Gilbert Felli’s swan song as Olympic Games executive director.

Though the absences of Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone due to Ebola concerns cast a cloud over thevearly days of the Games, Bach earlier Thursday reiterated the promise to bring each team to Nanjing at a future date to enjoy the city’s hospitality with a competition of their own.

Over 3,800 athletes from 204 countries participated in 222 events across 28 sports. Off the fields, courts, and tracks, athletes took part in the Culture and Education Program, used their "Yoggers" to make new friends, and draped flags from their balcony railings in the Youth OlympicVillage.

The baton for the Summer Youth Olympic Games now passes to the organizing committee for Buenos Aires 2018.One of the largest cheers of the closing ceremony came during a promotional video for the next Summer YOG when football star Lionel Messi appeared on screen to urge the crowd to visit his country’s scenic capital.

Shortly after, the Argentinean flag was raised and the anthem played. Now, those behind the bid prepare to host the IOC coordination commission for the first time at the end of September.

The next YOG will be staged by 1994 Winter Olympic host Lillehammer. The second winter edition, following Innsbruck 2012, falls six months prior to the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in what will be a busy year for the IOC.

Written by Nick Devlin in Nanjing

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