2010 Summer Youth Olympics - Bid

Bid

Host of the 117th IOC Session, Singapore made its first formal bid to host a multi-disciplinary sporting event of such a magnitude in its country. Positive factors in its bid included its high connectivity with the world, its youthfulness as an independent country, and its positive reputation for excellence and multiracial harmony. The city-state rolled out a high-publicity campaign which included being amongst the first to launch its official website, bid logo (despite IOC rules against bid logos) and a bid tagline "Blazing the Trail" on 16 October 2007. It also got the local population to support its bid, including an effort by students to collect 1 million signatures in support of the Games.

Eleven cities expressed interest in hosting the Games, nine of which ultimately applied. Five cities amongst the nine were selected for the shortlist: Athens (Greece), Bangkok (Thailand), Moscow (Russia), Singapore, and Turin (Italy). The list was further shortened to two finalists, Singapore and Moscow. On 21 February 2008 in a televised announcement from Lausanne, Switzerland, IOC President Jacques Rogge announced that Singapore had won the right to host the Games.

There were concerns over whether two new venues that had been planned – a Youth Olympic Village and an equestrian complex – would be ready in time for the Games. A construction expert believed the US$423 million plan for an Olympic Village at the National University of Singapore (NUS) was feasible, and that the equestrian venue could be delivered on time. In spite of the expert's findings, the Youth Olympic Village at the NUS's University Town did run into difficulties owing to increasing construction costs. It was subsequently decided that existing student halls of residence at Nanyang Technological University in Jurong West would be used for the Olympic Village.