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GO, SINGAPORE: The 2010 Youth Olympics bid has inspired swimmer Dzulhaili Mohammad Kamal, 13, to train harder to win for Singapore. He was among 300 Sports Schools students who gathered at Sentosa's Amis restaurant on Monday to await the IOC's announcement of its final two for the YOG bids. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI
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NOT all gold glitters, especially in the race to host the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
While Singapore's proposed budget of US$75.5 million (S$109 million) to host the event is less than half that of Moscow's, the Republic's bid committee is unfazed.
The Republic's budget covers the educational and cultural programme, development of infrastructure, services, transport and other operations.
Moscow, which was unveiled along with Singapore on Monday as the two finalists in the bid to host the Games, has a budget of US$180 million. It plans to set aside US$76 million for its educational and cultural programme.
Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Teo Ser Luck said yesterday that it was 'more important to focus on the content rather than the absolute amount'.
Said the adviser to Singapore's bid committee: 'We believe the most important thing is the value and legacy we bring to the youths.'
The YOG will see 3,200 athletes aged 14 to 18 compete in the 26 sports that will feature at the 2012 Olympics.
IOC president Jacques Rogge, speaking at last July's 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City, said the Games was not just about medals.
The education of youths, on topics such as the prevention of doping, the respect for Olympic values and a healthy lifestyle, is imperative.
Singapore's Education and Culture Programme, or ECP, will begin well before the YOG and continue in the years following the Games.
A comprehensive list of activities has been planned, incorporating the core elements of learning, contributing, interacting and celebrating. It includes spreading the Olympic education to all secondary schools through a Youth Olympic Sports Programme.
Moscow's focus will be on the development of an all-encompassing web platform. It will include web logs by Olympians worldwide and a digital friendship centre.
The IOC Evaluation Commission report noted that Singapore's innovative and dynamic culture and educational programmes demonstrated 'a thorough understanding of the YOG concept and objectives'.
Said Mr Teo: 'The budget is adequate to host a successful Games. But, if we do need to increase it, I don't think we'll have any issue with that.'
In fact, keeping costs low is a plus point when it comes to hosting the YOG. The idea is to give cities which are unable to host the Olympic Games a chance to host the scaled-down youth version.
The IOC recommends that existing venues and city infrastructure should be used.
Besides, with only 2 1/2 years to organise and host the YOG, the less to do, the better.
The IOC Evaluation Commission report also assessed each city's ability to be ready at short notice.
Singapore excelled with its strong government support, a compact venue plan, a dynamic, professional and well thought out cultural and educational programme, and sound financial backing.
The proposed Youth Olympic Village is actually an existing US$423 million project planned in 2005 as part of campus development owned and funded by the National University of Singapore through government grants.
The report concluded that Singapore's bid to host the YOG offered 'minimal risk' to the IOC.
Mr Teo has every reason to be confident.
He said: 'If we win the bid, we're going to make history. We hope to make a mark for all the small cities and, more importantly, for this region.
'The Olympic flame will blaze a trail in this region, which has 574 million people, 30 per cent of whom are below 15 years of age.
'We want the YOG to unite the passion for sports, and to leave a lasting legacy in sport, education and culture in the region.'
To that aim, Singapore has proposed to host the first Asian Youth Games either next year or in 2010 should it win the YOG bid.
Voting by post will take place over the coming weeks. The winning city will be announced in a live webcast on www.olympic.org, provisionally slated for Feb21.
jwang@sph.com.sg
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