Youth Olympic Games 2010: Moscow and Singapore finalists

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today unveiled the names of the cities from which a final winner to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 will be voted on by the IOC membership. Moscow and Singapore were chosen by the Executive Board and will now be submitted to a postal vote by the IOC members. The winning city will be announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge in a live web cast on www.olympic.org provisionally scheduled for 21 February.

The EB decision's on the 2 finalists was based on an IOC Evaluation Commission report. Chaired by Sergey Bubka, the Commission assessed the five shortlisted Candidate Cities' projects - Athens (Greece), Bangkok (Thailand), Moscow (Russia), Singapore (Singapore) and Turin (Italy). The report focused on the risks associated with the organisation of the Games with only two-and-a-half years remaining to plan and prepare to host the first edition of this new event.

Voting by post will take place over the coming weeks, with all IOC members, except those from the Russian Federation and Singapore, entitled to vote. The city with the most number of votes will be elected as the Host City of the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010. In the event of a tie, the IOC President will consult the EB members entitled to vote and will make the final decision based on this consultation. An independent and certified notary based in Lausanne, Switzerland, will oversee the process to guarantee confidentiality.

The Youth Olympic Games aim to bring together talented athletes - age group 14 to 18 - from around the world to participate in high-level competitions but also to run, alongside the sports element of the event, educational programmes on the Olympic values, the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values sport can deliver and on the dangers of doping and of training to excess and/or of inactivity. The first Summer Youth Olympic Games will gather approximately 3,200 athletes and 800 officials The sports programme will encompass all sports on the programme of the 2012 Summer Games with a limited number of disciplines and events.

Source: IOC