Over 1,500 young athletes are gathering in Sydney Wednesday for the first day of competition at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Now in its fifth year, the international sporting event for 13 to 19 year olds will focus on athletes competing in 17 sports from the Olympic program.
Launched in 2001, the AYOF is held biannually and is an opportunity for elite athletes to compete in an environment similar to the Olympics. Of the 27 countries represented, Australia and China will have the largest delegations of athletes and officials with 660 and 273 respectively. Chile, Norway and Kazakhstan will be represented for the first time.
"It will be a great experience for us, giving us the opportunity to play in a multisport event and stay in the athlete's village. I am really excited, especially after speaking to the players who went to Beijing. They were such an inspiration and it is my dream to play in the 2012 Olympics," Great Britain hockey forward Chris Gregg told the Australian Olympic Committee.
There are some new additions to the AYOF schedule this year. For the first time since 2001, triathlon returns to the lineup. There are also four team sports, up from two in 2007. Those sports are: basketball, hockey, football and water polo. Others being contested are: archery, athletics, canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, rowing, shooting, swimming and beach volleyball.
The festival opens Wednesday night, with the traditional protocols including lighting the Festival flame, the Parade of Nations and stating the Olympic Oath. Australian pop and R&B singer Paulina will headline the night's festivities.
In addition to participating in their sport, athletes will be required to attend six Live Clean, Play Clean drug presentations throughout the week. Tailored to this demographic, the program discusses inadvertent doping and strict liability, risks associated with supplement use and the dangers of alcohol and illicit drugs.
Competitors will also be able to interact with 24 Australian Olympians, chosen by their sport and approved by the Australian Athletes' Commission to serve as ambassadors during the week. They will share their experiences competing in the Olympics as well as offer advice to the next generation of athletes.
Ken Wallace, an ambassador, stated that he will draw from his earlier competitive experiences for advice. “When I was growing up, I used to watch the older, professional athletes around me,” he said. “You would learn things like how they got on the water, what they wore and how they stayed out of the sun before competition. Now I am the older one, so I suppose they will be looking at me."
Competition will continue all week, with event finals being held Saturday and Sunday. All of the AYOF competitive events are free to the public.
Written by Trista McGlamery.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
