WINDHOEK – With only a year left before the curtain opens on the Nanjing Summer Youth Olympic Games, the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC) has already started its countdown for the games in China by visiting the Hope Centre in Windhoek.
According to NNOC Chef de Mission Monica Böhm, the countdown was specifically started to “create awareness and introduce the concept of the Youth Olympics including the Olympic Movement to Namibia’s youth and potential future Olympians.” The youth summer games were first hosted in 2010 in Singapore.
Over 200 countries and 3 600 athletes participated in the inaugural edition with the age limit differing slightly for various disciplines with all athletes between the ages of 14 and 18.
The contested disciplines at the youth games are the same as those for the traditional Olympic games, but with some adaptations coupled with a limited number of disciplines and events. For example, in the aquatics sport, the IOC resolved to include diving and swimming but excluded synchronized swimming and water polo.
Some of the sports codes have been modified for the games led by basketball that uses the FIBA 33 format, which is a 3-on-3 half-court game where the periods are 5 minutes each giving the first team on 33 points a win. The cycling disciplines are mountain bike, BMX and road racing with track cycling left out from the cycling schedule.
Education and culture are also key components of the youth games and not only does the education/culture aspect apply to athletes and participants, but also youth around the world and inhabitants of the host city and surrounding regions with a Culture and Education Programme featuring prominently at each games.
The cultural and educational activities at the Nanjing Games will be facilitated under a framework of five themes, namely: Olympism, Skills Development,
Well-Being and Healthy Lifestyle, Social Responsibility and Expression.
The fundamental aim of the youth games is to enhance exchanges between the youth around the world with the ultimate view to promote social integration, international friendships, broadened international awareness and fostering the harmonious development of the body and mind. Emphasis on exchange goes beyond the CEP. Another unique feature of the youth games are mixed-gender and mixed-national teams.
Triathlon relays, fencing, table tennis, archery and mixed swimming relays are a few of the sports in which athletes from different nations and mixed genders can compete together.
Qualification to participate in the Youth Olympics is determined by the IOC in
conjunction with the International Sport Federations and to ensure that all nations are represented at the games the IOC instituted the concept of Universality Places with a certain number of spots in each event to be left open for athletes from under-represented nations regardless of qualifying marks. This is to ensure that every nation will be able to send at least four athletes to each games. Finally, no nation may enter more than 70 athletes in individual sports. At the 2010 Youth Olympic Games Namibia benefited from the Universality Places to participate at the games.
In 2014 Namibia is however also expecting to have athletes qualify for the games directly by achieving the qualification criteria and therefore have a bigger team taking part in the games.
By Staff Reporter