(ATR) It’s deadline day for cities hoping to host the Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2018.
With the first two editions heading to Singapore in 2010 and now Nanjing in 2014, the Americas, Europe and Africa would appear to be the front-running regions this time around. But on Thursday Russia pulled the plug on a bid.
Competition is fierce from the Spanish-speaking world with Medellin, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Guadalajara, Mexico all known to be in the hunt.
Medellin, host of the 2010 South American Games, was the first to announce its candidacy back in November. That’s when a delegation led by IOC member and newly appointed Colombian sports minister Andres Botero attended the bid cities seminar in Lausanne.
Argentine Olympic Committee president and IOC member Gerardo Werthein then added Buenos Aires to the mix on the sidelines of the Innsbruck Winter YOG in January. While Buenos Aires didn’t make the cut for the 2004 Olympics, the Argentine capital will host the IOC Session in 2013.
And 2010 Pan American Games host Guadalajara joined its rivals to the south last month when the Mexican Olympic Committee made the choice over Monterrey and appointed Pan Ams chief Carlos Andrade to head the project.
Elsewhere in the world, British Olympic Association leaders last week gave the go-ahead for Glasgow, Scotland to bid as a potential legacy of both the 2012 Olympics in London and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Rotterdam, Netherlands put its name forward with an announcement Thursday.
Kaspiysk in the Dagestan Republic of Russia was also expected to bid for the YOG. But Russian media reports on Thursday said the country's NOC led by president Alexander Zhukov had scrapped those plans.
"Taking the complicated domestic situation in Dagestan and lack of necessary infrastructure, the idea to host the Youth Olympic Games was abandoned," Vedomosti reported.
Abuja, Nigeria and recent IOC Session host Durban, South Africa have raised the possibility to bid for the YOG. Africa, of course, is the only continent yet to stage an Olympics of any sort.
Abuja sent a delegation to November’s bidding seminar that included Diamil Faye, president of African sports management firm JAPPO.
And a letter dated Feb. 2 was printed in South Africa’s The Mercury with NOC leader Tubby Rubby "enquiring" Durban city government about its desires.
Whether either African city will move forward remains unclear – they’ve certainly kept a low profile so far.
It’s expected the IOC will announce Friday which NOCs meet the deadline to submit the name of a YOG candidate city.
Those bids will then have the chance to complete formal candidature files and related documents by Oct. 15. The field could be shortlisted by the Executive Board in January 2013 after a technical review. Under IOC rules, cities are limited from any international promotion.
The IOC will then pose additional questions to those candidates still in the running with video conferences between the bid committees and Evaluation Commission scheduled for March 2013 and a report to follow in May.
An election will be included on the program when IOC members gather in Lausanne in June 2013 for the technical briefing on the 2020 summer bids.
Written by Matthew Grayson.
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