What a journey it has been
by Tan Yo-Hinn 05:55 AM Aug 27, 2010On Aug 14,
Singapore's world champion sailor Darren Choy lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games at The Float@Marina Bay.
It was the culmination of a journey that had its origins some two decades earlier, when the fall of the Berlin Wall eventually steered Dr Jacques Rogge to the concept of a global Games to draw youngsters away from their television and computer screens and back to sports.
"East and West were totally divided by the Iron Curtain. There were exchanges between athletes, but only at adult level. There was nothing for the youth," said Dr Rogge.
So when the Belgian orthopaedic surgeon, who competed in sailing at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics, took over as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president in 2001, he revisited the idea of a youth Olympics.
Six years later, the Games received the official Olympic seal of approval at the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City.
Nine cities bid for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games - including Singapore. Before deciding to bid, Singapore's sports chiefs, over many cups of coffee, weighed the pros and cons. Cost was a big concern but finally they decided to go for it.
"If we cannot even do this, what can we do?" Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Teo Ser Luck recounted to reporters over lunch yesterday.
But the devil was in the detail. Singapore had to put together a bid that was more compelling than other candidate cities, included Athens, Bangkok and Turin - all old hands at staging major sporting events.
Over more cups of coffee and even less sleep, the bid team, led by Mr Teo, MCYS permanent secretary Niam Chiang Meng and Singapore National Olympic Council vice-president Ng Ser Miang came up with a unique seven-pronged Culture and Education Programme that met the IOC's vision of the Youth Olympic Games being not just a sporting contest, but also about exposing the teenage athletes to other cultures in an educational, yet fun and interactive way that would capture their attention.
Over six months, the bid team spent many hours selling the idea via video conference to an evaluation panel from the IOC, which included its Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli and 1988 Olympic pole vault champion Sergey Bubka.
Along the way, cities likes Athens, Bangkok and Turin dropped out. When the IOC announced the final two candidate cities on Jan 21, 2008, only Moscow stood in Singapore's way.
Win or lose, Singapore scheduled a grand party at the Padang on Feb 22 when the IOC's decision would be announced. At precisely 7.10pm, with all eyes glued to the "live" telecast from Lausanne on two giant screens, Dr Rogge appeared holding an envelope with the name of the winning city.
He opened the envelope and uttered the sweetest 25 words: "The International Olympic Committee have the honour of announcing that the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 are awarded to the city of Singapore."
The Padang, and an entire nation, burst into cheers.
In the wee hours of that night, Mr Teo and Mr Ng mulled the historic moment over "teh tarik" at a Jalan Kayu coffeeshop.
In front of them was the Herculean task of organising the Games for some 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 204 National Olympic Committees in just two-and-a-half years.
The challenge thrown down by Mr Lee was still ringing loud in their ears: Host a successful Games.
With an initial budget of $122 million, the Games' infrastructure soon began to take shape as stadia, sports halls and other venues were refurbished and upgraded - some were built - and 20,000 volunteers recruited and trained.
Amid lingering concerns over whether Singaporeans would support the Games, tickets for sports events went on sale by end-March this year.
The organisers drew flak when it was announced weeks before the Games that the cost had ballooned to $387 million.
On July 23, the Olympic flame was lit in a traditional ceremony in ancient Olympia, travelled across the five continents, before arriving in Singapore on Aug 5.
After a six-day round-island torch relay the cauldron was lit and with it Dr Rogge's dream, hatched all those years ago, finally became a reality.