Following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) announcement Monday of the short list selection for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, there was swift reaction from two of the candidate cities – Moscow and Singapore.
Moscow Mayor and the bid’s Chairman Yuri Luzhkov said, “today is the beginning of a decisive phase in our journey towards the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. We are committed to continue our hard work with dignity and respect to the Olympic Ideals. We know the other candidate cities are strong rivals and we have to remain focused. Moscow can and will contribute in making the first Youth Olympic Games a truly memorable and global event. We have a strong team, a detailed plan and the passion to materialize the dreams of millions of people”.
Alexander Chernov, External Affairs Director for Moscow 2010, said that Moscow’s selection as a Candidate City would enable the bid team to continue developing detailed plans designed to provide the best facilities and services for young athletes, in sports, culture and education. He said, “we will be fine-tuning our detailed venue layouts, our operational strategies for educational and cultural programs, transport, accommodation and security, and strengthen our excellent relationships with our stakeholders”.
Low Teo Ping, President of the Singapore Sailing Federation, said it was really wonderful news (that Singapore was selected) and we, in some ways, expect(ed) to be short listed because of the fact that we have put in a very good bid and that the experience…from the IOC session a few years ago…has also given the selectors a fair bit of confidence on Singapore”.
Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports said, “the Youth Olympic Games will celebrate sports and promote the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. We share these values, and believe that multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious Singapore is a working model of these values in action. We are a small nation with a big heart.
“We hope that come 2010 youth across the world would have the opportunity to come to our shores to ignite their passion for sports”.
