Buenos Aires to host 2018 Youth Olympics

Lausanne (Switzerland): The third Youth Olympics will be hosted by Buenos Aires in 2018, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge announced Thursday following a vote by the IOC members at an Extraordinary IOC Session here.

Buenos Aires (Argentina) was elected ahead of Glasgow (Great Britain) and Medellín (Colombia). Prior to the vote, the candidate cities each had 15 minutes to give a presentation to the session, followed by questions. “We had three excellent candidates from which to choose a host city today, each with the capability of staging memorable Youth Olympic Games in 2018,” said IOC President Rogge. “I would like to congratulate Buenos Aires and their bid team for their dedication to and enthusiasm for the youth project. I have no doubt they will build on the successes of Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014 to provide a platform on which the best young athletes from around the world can compete and learn about the Olympic values.” The announcement was the culmination of a bidding process launched in September 2011, which originally included six cities - the three other cities were Guadalajara (Mexico), Poznan (Poland) and Rotterdam (Netherlands). After a thorough review of the candidature files and other relevant documentation submitted by five of the cities (Poznan withdrew from the bidding process), the IOC Working Group, led by Claudia Bokel, presented a report to the IOC Executive Board (EB). Based on this report, the EB announced Buenos Aires, Glasgow and Medellín as shortlisted candidates at a meeting in Lausanne in February 2013. The second Youth Olympics will be held in Nanjing, China Aug 16-28, 2014. IANS