NEWS Impressive growth in attendance and media coverage for Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer
Olympics - 01 Mar 2016 By Colin Stewart, Adrian Owusu-Abeyie and Freddie Beale
Lillehammer 2016 marked the fourth Youth Olympic Games (YOG), a multi-sport games aimed at young athletes aged 15-18 years old. The Nordic city and surrounding area welcomed 1,100 athletes from 70 nations to compete in seven Olympic sports from 12-21 February.
Ice hockey proved to be the most popular sport with 29,000 spectators attending matches. Figure skating attracted 10,560 spectators to the Hamars’ Olympic Amphitheatre while short track speed skating brought 7,500 fans to Gjøvik.
In total, the games attracted more than 210,000 spectators, eclipsing the inaugural edition of the winter YOG in Innsbruck, Austria by 100,000.
Media coverage also eclipsed the inaugural edition, with 26 broadcasters (20 in 2012) airing coverage in more than 120 nations (70 in 2012) around the world.
This week, Sportcal takes a look at the success of the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer compared to previous editions.
The Youth Olympic Games
The Youth Olympics were created after a unanimous vote at the 119th IOC Session held in Guatemala in 2007.
The first YOG took place in Singapore in 2010 and was followed by the inaugural winter YOG two years later in Innsbruck, Austria.
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Since its inception, the concept of the YOG has been both praised and criticised. The IOC has provided a significant financial contribution for the staging of the initial editions of the games, covering the costs of travel, accommodation and expenses of athletes, national Olympic committees and international federation representatives.
Critics argue that the IOC could spend the money more effectively through enhanced youth sports programmes in schools and via other direct interventions around the world.
Successive editions of the summer and winter YOG have taken place on the same continent – Asia and Europe, respectively. The next edition of the winter YOG will continue its European hosting trend in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2020 while the summer edition makes its debut in South America in 2018, taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
While some critics have questioned the future viability of the YOG, the data resulting from the second edition of both the summer and winter events highlights growth in a number of areas.
This is particularly true of attendances, which increased by 115 per cent and 91 per cent between the first two summer and winter events respectively.
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Media exposure has also increased, with television coverage reaching 29 per cent more nations for the summer edition and over 71 per cent more nations for the winter edition.
The number of athletes and medal events has also increased since the inaugural editions, providing more young athletes with the experience of competing in an elite environment.
Norway and the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games
Having already established its credentials for hosting major winter-specific sporting events, Norway was well positioned to host the YOG. The host of the fondly-remembered 1994 Winter Olympic Games, Lillehammer, which has a population of only 27,300, was awarded the YOG in December 2011. The city was unchallenged in the bidding process, having previously failed in its bid to host the inaugural edition (Innsbruck 2012).
Lillehammer 2016 aimed to marry sport with culture and education for young people, highlighted by the event slogan 'by youth, with youth, for youth'.
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The games were organised in parallel with ‘Sjoggfest’, a cultural festival incorporating more than 150 free events showcasing young talents in music, arts, talks, films and sports, making it the largest festival to have taken place in Norway. In total, 20,000 visitors took part in ‘Try the Sport’ activities at the arenas.
The festival also included the IOC’s own Learn and Share initiative, an activities programme aimed at athletes and other participants involved in the YOG, built around the themes of Olympism, skills development, well-being and healthy lifestyle, social responsibility and expression.
The IOC contributed NOK 108 million (USD 18.3 million) to the construction of the Youth Olympic Village in Lillehammer which will serve as a legacy for the region with accommodation for 360 students.
According to IOC president Thomas Bach, whatever the costs of staging the second winter YOG (yet to be finalised), they will be outweighed by the benefits of the games.
Responding to a question from Sportcal at a news conference ahead of the start of the games, Bach said: “Yes, the benefits are worth the costs. As for the figure, we will have to see the accounts. We can only see once the budgets are finalised.
“We are not approaching the organisation [of the games] with a view to saying ‘here is a certain amount of money we are willing to spend’. We are approaching it from the other point of view, of looking at the projects and seeing how they can be funded, together with the organising committee and the [Norwegian] national Olympic committee.”
There are promising signs of YOG legacy already. Some 64 YOG athletes from Innsbruck 2012 went on to compete at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, winning six medals in total while 200 YOG athletes from Singapore 2010 competed at London 2012, with 25 winning medals for their country.
Future Norwegian bid for Olympic Winter Games
The success of the YOG in Lillehammer rekindled questions over a future Norwegian bid for the winter Olympic Games.
According to Inge Andersen, secretary general of the Norwegian Olympic Committee, Norway has a “responsibility” to host another winter Olympic Games in the foreseeable future, as the “winningest” nation in winter Olympic history.
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Speaking in Lillehammer during the games, Andersen told Sportcal: “We are now hosting our third Olympic event. Norway is in Olympic history the most winning country in winter sports. Most people in Norway are agreeing that it is the responsibility for Norway to host once in each generation.
“This generation created the Youth Olympic Games, and they have to decide when they are ready to host another Olympics. For me, it is clear we will do one day, and I’m quite sure this discussion will come after this Youth Olympic Games.”
Asked if another winter Olympic bid could come as soon as the games of 2026, the next for which a bid process will be launched, Andersen was cautious, saying: “We haven’t started this discussion. Because of the temperature around the Oslo bid, we need to have done an evaluation, and to focus to deliver these games in the best way.
“This discussion about when we again want to host [the winter Olympics] in 2026, 2030 or 2034? One day Norway will do it and needs to do it because of the responsibility of the winter nation that we are. That is what you see here [in Lillehammer]."
Oslo, Norway’s capital, failed to gain government support for its bid to host the Olympic Winter Games in 2022. Oslo had progressed to the candidate city phase alongside Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, China, before withdrawing in October 2014. The IOC described the situation as “a missed opportunity” for Norway.
The bidding process for the 2026 winter Olympics is yet to be announced but several nations across six continents have signalled interest in recent years. The host city is expected to be selected at the 132nd IOC Session in 2019.
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