Singapore sets stage for first Youth Olympic Games (News Feature)

By Kai Portmann Aug 13, 2010, 3:31 GMT

Singapore - The tropical island state of Singapore is to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games starting Saturday.

Officials have been fighting ballooning costs and a subdued response from sports fans in their efforts to make the event a fixture in the Olympic calendar.

The 13-day games, the brainchild of International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, are to bring together some 3,600 of the world's best athletes aged 14 to 18 across 26 disciplines.

Created in 2007, the Youth Olympics 'is to inspire young people around the world to participate in sport and adopt and live by the Olympic values,' according to the IOC.

Contestants would also take part in 'a wide range of cultural and educational activities aimed at equipping them with the skills to make reasoned, intelligent decisions in life,' Rogge was quoted as saying by in Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

The young athletes, selected by 205 National Olympic Committees, would learn the value of friendship, the dangers of doping and benefits of a healthy lifestyle, he said.

Rogge said he hoped that the games 'will become as much an indispensable fixture of the Olympic calendar as its 'grown-up' brothers.'

Singapore was elected ahead of eight other cities in February 2008 to host the first Youth Olympics, scheduled to run from August 14 to 26.

Originally estimated at 104 million Singapore dollars (76 million US dollars), the games' budget was now expected to reach 387 million Singapore dollars, the government said last month.

The spending has provoked anger, with Singaporeans in some internet forums calling the project 'a massive waste of money' which would be better spent on citizens in need.

The government maintained, however, that the Youth Olympics would leave a legacy of newly constructed or refurbished sport facilities, benefiting all Singaporeans.

The organizers hope to attract up to 370,000 spectators, paying up to 30 Singapore dollars (22 US dollars) each for tickets.

But despite enormous efforts to generate some public interest, the Youth Games have not caught on with Singaporeans as much as the organizers and the government would have liked.

When ticket sales proved sluggish in May, the Ministry of Education bought 80,000 tickets for students ranging from primary schools to junior colleges.

Recent polls showed that many locals had little or no interest in the games, citing among other reasons a level of 'sports fatigue' after last month's World Cup in South Africa, local media reported.

The authorities have nonetheless tirelessly been beating the drum for the Youth Games, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urging his fellow citizens to 'attend the games (and) enjoy the sporting action.'

A commentary in Friday's Straits Times said it was 'nice' that ticket sales had reached around 80 per cent, but called on Singaporeans to 'make it a full house.'

'The finest hosts, after all, are not those who build gleaming stadiums but those who fill them,' it said.