The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (Spanish: Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held from 6 to 18 October 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were the first Youth Olympic Games held outside of Eurasia, and the first Summer Games held outside of Asia and the first to be held in the Western and Southern hemispheres. It was the second Olympic Games held in South America after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Six bids were initially submitted for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. Buenos Aires confirmed their bid in September 2011.[2] On 13 February 2013, the IOC selected Buenos Aires as one of the three Candidate Cities for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. The other two candidate cities were Glasgow and Medellín. Guadalajara and Rotterdam failed to become candidates. Poznań withdrew their bid before the candidate cities were selected.[3]
The host city election vote was held at an IOC Session in Lausanne. The results were as follows:[4]
World Badminton Championships, and Barry Maister, a member of New Zealand's hockey team that won the Olympic gold medals at 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal; and Adham Sharara, Canadian President of the International Table Tennis Federation, and Henry Nuñez, head of the National Olympic Committee of Costa Rica.[6] Working along with them there was the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (BAYOGOC), that includes member of the Argentine Olympic Committee (AOC), the local government and the national government, and which CEO was Leandro Larrosa. The local organising committee involves young people in all levels of the organization; including an 'Athlete Commission' and a newly established 'Youth Commission' – a group of young consultants chosen by the AOC from local schools and universities – and the employees within BAYOGOC from junior to director level.[7]
The first Coordination Commission meeting took place in Buenos Aires on 27–28 September 2014.
During June 2015 a small delegation from Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (NYOGOC) visited Buenos Aires for a series of debriefing workshops and seminars to pass on their expertise focusing on strategic decisions to be made in the early stages such as legacy, the use of the YOG to impact youth and sport, and benefits of the YOG to engage communities. The CEOs of Singapore 2010, Lillehammer 2016 and Innsbruck 2012 also took part of these meetings that were presided over by Frank Fredericks.[8]
Football player and Olympic gold medalist
Rosario, was named as an ambassador of the 2018 YOG in March 2014,[9] and he delivered a video welcoming message for the young athletes to Buenos Aires during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.[10] In December 2015, the four-time Olympic medalist Luciana Aymar was also named as an ambassador of Buenos Aires 2018.[11] In July 2017, Olympic gold medalist Luis Scola was named ambassador of the 2018 YOG.[12]
Joining the Olympic programme for the first time at Buenos Aires 2018 were
Roller speed skating was added to the Olympic programme on 17 March 2017.[18][14]
Three years before the event, a survey showed that public support had reached 82.3 per cent in favour of the Youth Olympic games in Buenos Aires. During the second visit of the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission to the city, on 13 and 14 August 2015, Mr. Fredericks highlighted the implementation of 13 of the recommendation of the Agenda 2020 by BAYOGOC.[19]
In order to group the sports in a more compact framework, in September 2014 a new four-clusters concept was revealed, dropping out venues such as La Rural.[7][22] It was announced then that each cluster would include an area called YOG FEST where sporting experiences, family entertainment and cultural activities would take place. But at the 129th IOC Session, in August 2016, a new venues masterplan was presented, including two new stand-alone venues, adding La Rural once again and replacing Parque Sarmiento with Tecnópolis.
Located to the South of Buenos Aires, Roca Park is a vast area of 200 hectares in the district of
Automotive Racetrack. The Park, inaugurated in the 1980s, has many sports venues and recreational facilities, including the iconic Roca Park Athletics Stadium and the Roca Park Tennis Stadium. This area was also the site of the Youth Olympic Village (YOV), from where 65 per cent of the athletes were able to walk to their competition venues,[26] and after the event it would become the new location for the CeNARD
.
The
Parque Polideportivo Roca was fully renovated before the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in order to be used as main Olympic Park
. Six pavilions were built: Asia Pavilion (judo and wrestling), Africa Pavilion (fencing and modern pentathlon), Europe Pavilion (karate and weightlifting), Oceania Pavilion (boxing and taekwondo), America Pavilion (gymnastics) and natatorium. The complex also includes hockey and athletics fields.
Located to the east of the city, this cluster occupies a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and includes the old Puerto Madero docks as venue for water sports. Rowing competitions were held over 500 metres rather than the usual 2,000 metres.[17]
Located west of the city and next to the General Paz Avenue which marks the limit of Buenos Aires city, the 50 hectares science, technology, industry and art mega exhibition Tecnópolis was inaugurated in 2011 and was the venue for four sports competitions. This area can be accessed by Mitre Line Railway at Migueletes station or by Belgrano Norte Line at Saavedra or Padilla stations.
The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics featured 239 events in 32 sports. There were 12 mixed team events (Mixed-NOCs), 9 mixed team events (NOCs), 1 open event (Equestrian), 113 men's events, and 102 women's events.
The schedule for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games was released on 9 May 2018, exactly 150 days before the starting of the games on its official website.
The closing ceremony of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics was held at the Youth Olympic Village on 18 October 2018. The Olympic flag was handed over to the next host city, Senegalese capital Dakar, for the 2026 Summer Youth Olympics.
Doping
Supatchanin Khamhaeng of Thailand originally won the gold medal at the Girls' +63 kg Weightlifting event, but was disqualified in 2019 after testing positive for a banned substance.[31]
National Library and the Obelisk. A short video produced by the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (BAYOGOC) shows what each letter on the emblem relates to.[32]
Slogan
The slogan of these Games,"Feel the Future", was unveiled on 8 April 2018.
Mascot
Pandi
Mascot of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (Buenos Aires)
Olympic mascot of these games was unveiled on 29 May 2018.[33] The mascot is a young Jaguar, its name "Pandi" is a combination of the scientific name of the species (Panthera onca) and the relationship of the mascot with the "digital world".[34] The president of the Buenos Aires 2018 Organising Committee, Gerardo Werthein, said that the mascot "seeks to inspire young people on the transformative power of Olympism and sport".[35]
The mascot was created by the Argentine agency Human Full Agency with direction of Peta Rivero y Hornos. The animation short was made by the local production company Buda TV.[33]
^"Buenos AIres 2018 on Twitter". Twitter (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 May 2018. La elección de #Pandi se debe a la combinación entre su nombre científico que es "Panthera Onca" y su relación con el mundo digital.