The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has selected Singapore as the one of two candidates in the final shortlist. The other bidding cities are Turin, Athens and Bangkok. The community is rallying behind our bid to host the first-ever Youth Olympic Games. Over 500 businesses and organisations have also thrown their support behind Singapore's bid.
Singapore is hoping the IOC will favour a smaller city that would otherwise never host an Olympiad. Moscow and Singapore emerged tops in governance and guarantees, finance, the Youth Olympic Village, competition venues and transport.
There will be some 3,500 athletes, from ages 14 to 18, competing in 26 sports events in the Youth Olympic Games.
At the same time, these athletes who come from very different cultures, speak different languages but share a love of sports will be taking part in education and cultural programmes. One of the underlying themes of the Olympic movement is that : Athletes can be adversaries on the field, but friends in life.
A ground breaking ceremony was held on 31st January 2008 to mark the start of construction works for the Youth Olympic Village. It was officiated by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The US$423 million (S$500 - 600 million) project will be completed in February 2010, half a year before the start of the inaugural Youth Olympic Game.
PM Lee Hsien Loong has given a very strong endorsement for Singapore's bid for YOG 2010
"We are a young nation and a small city state, but we have built a trusted brand name internationally as a reliable partner, able to get things done, and deliver on what we promise. And for this first Youth Olympic Games, I am confident that we can deliver a high-quality, memorable event that will celebrate the spirit of the Games, strengthen the Olympic movement, leave a lasting impact on young people around the world, and be a fabulous launch for our University Town."Singapore is home to 4.5 million people. A huge expatriate population works for the 7,000 multinational companies and home-grown enterprises in this modern, multi-cultural and cosmopolitan city. It's a vibrant economic and financial powerhouse in Southeast Asia.
It is critical to get the whole country excited about it. Car decals and stickers will be distributed island-wide as part of the 'I Support Singapore 2010' campaign.
Singaporeans can pen their support at http://www.singapore2010.sg
Oh, gimme a sticker, and I will paste it up at the Village Post Office over here!!
ReplyDeleteI wish I'm still a youth! I'm looking forward to it.. before we know it,it'll be 2010. I kan cheong over the swim team :P
ReplyDeletep/s: train my kids to do acrobat acts den go your house pai nian mah! *kidding*
Amazing news..!! as a singaporean abroad.. i cannot help but be in awe.. because the small town i'm in . .will never be this way. As much as i love my in laws.. i really feel that coming home.. is the way to go for chloe's future. What do you think..ECL..??
ReplyDeleteLB,
ReplyDeleteI'll send it to you. Thanks. hehe....
Wow .. this is exciting. Is it a done deal yet? You mentioned that we are one of the two candidates in the final shortlist.
ReplyDeletenapaboaniya,
ReplyDeleteYour kids are in the swim team? You better be strict and whip.... er, prepare them for the YOG should we be successful for the bid.
Don't know acrobat acts also can come to my house pai nian wat! hehe...
mamabok,
ReplyDeleteReading your posts on the town you are living in, it cannot be compared to Singapore.
If I'm in your situation, I'll bring Chloe up in Singapore because of our strong Asian values. She will have a good foundation in Maths and Science too. She gets to study Mandarin. She can then go back for her University education.
The next 10 years is still good for Singapore, after that, depend on the new generation of leaders.
wilfrid,
ReplyDeleteThe result will be out on 21st February 2008.
We are competing with Moscow, a strong contender in this bid. They have the experience in hosting major international competition and youth events.
good luck, Singapore! hope you win the bid.
ReplyDelete2010 Youth Olympics? You go my vote! I'm going to join so I can go there and in the middle of my routine I'm going to defect.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is this. If the NLB didn't screw up the whole blog issue. Me and my group of friends would still be working on streaming patches for the coming olympics in Beijing.
ReplyDeleteAs the screwed it up, the brotherhood just came along with their storm troopers and shut us down and moved everything to hong kong.
I like the idea of a youth Olympics but I dont really think our gahmen is very encouraging of youth enterprises.
Darrell
if sg wins, can invite me over? me nvr been to sg... *suaku* :P
ReplyDelete