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Speaking after a three-day visit to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
in Lausanne, Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and
Sports) Teo Ser Luck said: "The IOC does not want the Games to just be about
winning and losing. "Because it will be about the young, it should also represent a return to the basics, to the original values of the Olympic movement, where traits like fairplay and friendship are advocated." The Youth Olympics will be different from the traditional Summer Games. One idea is to do away with national anthems during medal ceremonies. Also, medals won may not be reflected in the traditional medal table form, which tallies up the number of medals won per country. The changes are in line with the IOC's vision of the Games. The Games is seen as a vehicle to introduce sports and Olympic movement to the youth of the world. The trip to Lausanne was the first by a Singapore team since the Republic beat Moscow and was named host city on 21 February. Ng Ser Miang, the IOC executive board member from Singapore was part of the eight-man team. He said: "The OIC was very thorough in its exchange with us on what needs to be done in the build-up to the Games. We tackled areas such as education, culture, as well as marketing and, of course, sports. "The Games will be a very challenging prospect as this will be the very first of its kind, with no previous examples of what can be done, and what can't. "So, in a way, we will be co-constructing the Games with the IOC, borrowing its expertise of organising previous Olympics Games and our experience of having run youth events in Singapore. The Singapore team was back on 20 March. |