Civic and sports leaders gathered at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow Scotland Tuesday to launch Glasgow’s bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, hoping to capitalize on Glasgow’s status as a host city for the London 2012 Games.
The 2018 Youth Games is expected to attract more than 3,000 athletes ages 15-18, competing in all 28 Olympic sports.
Glasgow, the UK’s candidate for the Games, is competing against five countries, including Argentina, Colombia and Poland.
Officials hope Glasgow’s bid will be successful since much of the sporting, accommodation, and transport infrastructure will already be in place as a legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games which Glasgow is hostng.
Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson said, “we face tough competition, but hosting the Youth Olympics is a very big prize. It is on a scale of a sporting event like the Commonwealth Games. It is competing to be the third largest sporting event in the world.
“And of course competition is going to be high. It should be give the prize involved – but Glasgow is in it to win it”, he added.
The host city for the 2018 Youth Games will be chosen in the summer of 2013.
