Sports
The sports contested at the Youth Games are the same as those scheduled for the traditional Games, but with some adaptations, and a limited number of disciplines and events. For example, in the aquatics sport the IOC decided to include diving and swimming events but excluded synchronized swimming and water polo. Some of the sports have been modified for the Games. The basketball competition uses the FIBA 33 format, which is 3-on-3 half-court game, where the periods are five minutes each, and the first team to 33 points wins. The cycling disciplines are mountain bike, BMX, and road, while track cycling has been left off the schedule. Other youth-driven sports may eventually be contested if backed by international sports federations. In November 2007, it was revealed that pentathlon will be included, as well as sailing, giving an edge to candidate cities near water.
The Winter Youth Games will feature seven sports. Hockey will have not only a men's and women's tournament but also an individual skills challenge. In luge, figure skating and short track speed skating there will be mixed NOC events that will allow athletes from various countries to compete together in teams. Alpine and cross-country skiing will have events in which men and women will compete on mixed-gendered teams.
Read more about this topic: Youth Olympic Games
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“It was so hard to pry this door open, and if I mess up I know the people behind me are going to have it that much harder. Because then there’s living proof. They can sit around and say, “See? It doesn’t work.” I don’t want to be their living proof.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)