Youth Olympic Games 2012: Premiere for the youth

Innsbruck, Seefeld and Kühtai experienced a world premiere with the first Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG Youth Olympic Games), in which over a thousand 15 to 18-year-old athletes from all over the world took part.

The decision in favour of Innsbruck was made by an overwhelming majority in 2008. 84 votes to 15 was the largest vote in the history of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The decisive reason for the clear vote was the Olympic experience of the Alpine city. In addition, Innsbruck's participating sports federations were able to point to a wealth of experience in hosting and organising World Cups and World Championships.

From 13 to 22 January 2012, Innsbruck and its surroundings were once again dominated by the Olympic spirit. Supported by 1021 athletes aged 15 to 18 from 70 nations, but also by the enthusiasm of the organisers, the volunteers and the local population.

On 13 January 2012, the Bergisel Stadium became the first sports venue in the world to welcome the Olympic community for an Olympic opening ceremony for the third time. The concept of the "Youth Games" proved to be a huge experience for everyone involved. The organising committee focused entirely on the Olympic values and wanted to liven up the games with a youthful, fresh spirit.

Under the motto "Being part of it is everything", the Olympic spirit could also be felt throughout the city. Thousands of colourfully dressed people, more than 110,000 spectators and almost 1,000 media representatives joined the people of Innsbruck in celebrating a huge international sports festival. The event went far beyond the sport itself. Contact was specifically sought with young people, digital media was increasingly used and the Culture and Education Programme (CEP) was a second major pillar of the Youth Olympic Games.

Preparations

The majority of the sports facilities, such as the bobsleigh track in Igls, the Olympiaworld Innsbruck or the Bergisel ski jump, have already been the venue for international competitions for many years and therefore did not need to be adapted for the YOG 2012.

In Kühtai, a new halfpipe as well as slopestyle and skicross tracks were built for the snowboard and freestyle competitions. A 266 km long cross-country skiing track, two newly built ski jumps and a modern biathlon facility made Seefeld the location for the Nordic competitions of the YOG 2012.

The Main Operations Centre and the central contact and catering point for 1200 volunteers were set up at Messe Innsbruck. The Olympic Youth Village was built as a temporary home for the athletes - in sustainable construction as energy-saving passive houses.

Opening ceremony

The Olympic torch was lit in Athens on 17 December 2011 and reached the Tyrolean capital on 27 December after a torch relay - carried by 2012 national and international torchbearers - through the whole of Austria.

With a mixture of young and old, active and former athletes and participants from various nations, the Winter Youth Olympic Games were finally opened on 13 January 2012. The three Olympic fire bowls in the Bergisel Stadium were lit by two legends of the Innsbruck Winter Olympics(Egon Zimmermann for 1964 and Franz Klammer for 1976) and the young athlete Paul Gerstgraser for 2012. 16-year-old skiing talent Christina Ager recited the Olympic oath of the athletes, luge coach Angelika Neuner the oath of the coaches and ski official Peter Zenz praised the fairness of the judges. The artistic performances ranged from waltzing and Schuhplattln to hip-hop and were very well received.

Competitions

1021 athletes aged 15 to 18 from 70 nations took part in 63 competitions in 15 sports:

• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Skeleton
• Curling
• Ice hockey
• Luge
• Figure Skating
• Ice skating - short track
• Speed Skating
• Alpine skiing
• Cross-country skiing
• Freestyle
• Snowboarding
• Nordic Combined
• Ski Jumping

Yoggl - the mascot

"Yoggl" - that's the name of the official mascot of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games. The chamois buck got its name from "YOG" and the typical Tyrolean nickname "Joggl" for "Jakob".

Medals YOG 2012

Medal table

Winners from Austria

The YOG 2012 proved to be a complete success for Austria not only from an organisational point of view, but also in sporting terms. With 6 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals, the ÖOC youngsters achieved a great result.

Gold medals

• Elisabeth Gram in the Ski Freestyle Halfpipe
• Marco Schwarz in the Super Combination
• Miriam Kastlunger in luge
• Christina Ager, Martina Rettenwender, Mathias Graf and Marco Schwarz in the mixed parallel team event
• Marco Schwarz in the giant slalom
• Michaela Heider in Ski Cross

Silver medals

• Carina Mair in skeleton
• Stefan Geisler in skeleton
• Women's ice hockey team
• Benjamin Maier and Robert Ofensberger in 2-man bobsleigh

Bronze medals

• Christina Ager in the super-G
• Mathias Graf in the slalom
• Miriam Kastlunger, Armin Frauscher, Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller in the luge team competition
• Melanie Brantner in the Short Track Mixed Team