IOC 'extremely pleased' with inaugural Youth Olympics
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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge on Thursday hailed the Youth Olympics in Singapore, saying that the IOC is "extremely pleased" with the inaugural Games.
Rogge spoke at a press conference before the closing ceremony that the inaugural Games' success was beyond his expectations.
The Youth Games were held at a relatively low cost with 201 events from 26 sports, a visible reduction from over 300 events from 28 sports in the Olympic Games but fueled by new, fun arrangements such as mixed team competitions as well as 50 culture and education program activities off the competition venues.
"We have sports of first world class competitions. We are very pleased to see the athletes embrace the full of educational program as this was the defining identity of the Games.
"We are also pleased to see the international federations at our requests have innovated the form of many events and some of them are really very appealing and also appeal a lot to the athletes."
The first Youth Olympic Games, which began here on Aug. 14, brought together some 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 205 countries and regions.
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