On the Scene - Buenos Aires Wins 2018 Youth Olympics; Glasgow, Medellin React

(ATR) IOC member from Argentina Gerardo Werthein says the IOC decision to award the 2018 Youth Olympics to Buenos Aires will inspire a generation.

"This was our fifth time [of bidding for a Games] and we finally brought the Games to Argentina," the president of the Argentine Olympic Committee told ATR shortly after the IOC vote.

Buenos Aires beat Medellin in the second round of voting, 49 to 38. Glasgow was eliminated in the first round with just 13 votes; the Argentinian capital garnered 40 votes to 32 for the Colombian city.

"We are very happy for our kids, the youth are our partners for the IOC," Werthein added.

"I feel this is something that inspires sport for our young people to get engaged in sports and the values of Olympism."

"We have a very good project," he added, promising that Buenos Aires would help mature the Youth Olympic brand by tapping into social media more than any other Games and capitalizing on Argentina’s sporting, cultural and technological dynamism.

IOC presidential candidate Thomas Bach told ATR Buenos Aires would stage a "very good Games with a South American flavor". "This [decision] is a good signal for the universality of the Youth Olympics," he added.

After helping PyeongChang’s bid secure the 2018 Olympics, the win for Buenos Aires was another feather in the cap of PR guru Mike Lee, who runs Vero Communications.

But ahead of the bid presentations to IOC members in Lausanne Thursday, Buenos Aires was not being strongly tipped to win the YOG 2018 race.

One European IOC member echoed rumors circulating around the Beaulieu congress center that ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad had had an influence on the vote.

Glasgow and Medellin were widely acclaimed for staging the best performances in the auditorium, according to many observers. Members of the international media, who included a large contingent from Colombia, were able to watch the 15-minute presentations in the hall or on TV feeds to the press room.

Colombian President Reacts

Touting a compelling bid and with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos leading its delegation, Medellin was tipped to win the bid race.

A downcast Santos was magnanimous in defeat, telling ATR: "It is a sports event. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We have to assimilate both. I am very glad for Buenos Aires."

Drawing the positives from the bid loss, Santos said the Medellin bid had helped Colombia achieve global recognition and altered perceptions about the country’s reputation for violent crime and drugs.

"Everyone is now seeing Colombia is progressing," he said, noting his nation’s "flourishing democracy and booming economy".

"We will continue bidding," he added.

Asked by ATR if the vote for Buenos Aires went against the IOC’s objective of handing the YOG to smaller cities, Santos said: "We thought that would be something in our favor.

"The spirit of these Games is precisely that, to give the opportunity to smaller cities and non-traditional places. We thought we had the advantage in that respect but apparently that was not enough."

Glasgow Reacts

Glasgow’s bid presentation led by IOC vice-president Craig Reedie, whoopened in French to widespread applause, was slick and packed a punch.

Building on the legacy of London 2012 and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Reedie emphasized that the Scottish city would provide the "most effective global outreach strategy", a big selling point for the IOC to grow the Games which are still in their infancy.

Its solid bid concept, which required only capital investment on an Olympic Village, failed to resonate with IOC members.

British sports minister Hugh Robertson told ATR that of four IOC members he’d spoken to after Glasgow’s exit, the reason given was "Too soon after London".

"The bid we put forward was as good as we could possibly have done," Robertson said. "The lure of going somewhere else was more powerful than we thought it would be."

Reedie, a Glaswegian, said: "It seems to be that probably it was too soon after London. I thought we tackled that head on [in the presentation] and dealt with it offering a professional and coherent case for the Youth Olympic Games."

Britain’s greatest ever Olympian, Chris Hoy, a six-times gold medalist in cycling, told ATR he was genuinely surprised at the first-round elimination.

"It is frustrating and disappointing. We did the very best presentation… I thought they were absolutely fantastic up there. It’s like in sport, you can only do the best you can and it wasn’t good enough on the day."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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