Blazing the Trail: 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore

August 15, 2010 — Darren Choy, Everyone, Iskandar Ismail, Ivan Heng, Jessica Mauboy, Jody Williams, Lyo, Merly, Sean Kingston, Steve Appleton, Tabitha Nauser, YOG 2010, YOG 2010 mascots, YOG 2010 opening ceremonies, YOG 2010 photos, YOG 2010 Singapore, YOG medals, YOG opening ceremonies, YOG photos, YOG Singapore, YOG Singapore opening ceremonies, YOG theme song, Youth Olympic Games theme song, Youth Olympics, Youth Olympics 2010 medals, Youth Olympics Games 2010, Youth Olympics mascots, Youth Olympics medals, Youth Olympics photos, Youth Olympics theme song

I decided to stay home on Saturday night to catch the opening ceremonies of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) hosted by Singapore.

The Youth Olympics will feature 3,600 athletes aged between 14 and 18 years competing in 200 events across 26 sports. The concept is a dream of International Olympic Committee, president Jacques Rogge, who has advocated the idea since 2001 after winning the IOC presidency.

The story behind the Opening Ceremony illustrates the parallels between Singapore and the Young Olympians – their struggles, hopes and dreams. The show celebrates Singapore’s origins and diversity, and offers a glimpse of the nation’s hopes for the future, drawing on all that Singapore has to offer in terms of art, culture and expertise.

The creative director for both opening & closing ceremonies is theatre director, actor and playwright Ivan Heng, while Cultural Medallion recipient Iskandar Ismail will be in charge of sound and music.

My view of the opening ceremonies? Impressive display of colors and creative use of fire and water. More importantly, it was a great showcase of Singapore’s capability as a modern nation to host an international event of this magnitude.

There are specific aspects of the show that I particularly liked :

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all photos posted courtesy of the Youth Olympic Games website and Singapore Youth Olympic Games photostream in Flickr

1) The use of a reflecting pool (90.5m by 50.1m in length)

2) The use of multimedia and special effects to enhance storytelling

The bigger opponent (appearing as a shadow) is part of the special effects in one of the segments

3) “Walking/running on water effect” before the Olympic flame was lit by Singapore teenage sailor Darren Choy

Photo courtesy of Tim Chong (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oeyvind/4891123181/)

Photo courtesy of AP / Wong Maye

Darren Choy – 2009 Byte CII sailing world champion and gold-medallist at last year’s Asian Youth Games, 2007 South-east Asian Games silver-medallist. His role as final torch bearer was a tightly guarded secret. He even had to rehearse at midnight wearing a cap the weekend before the event.

4) Spiral Olympic flame in a 32 meter cylinder / lighthouse structure which represents Singapore as a port city

Other photos from the Opening Ceremonies

Basic info on YOG which I picked up from The Straits Times (14 August 2010, page A16)

• Singapore beat front runner Russia to host the Youth Olympics. One reason Singapore won is that it has never hosted an Olympic event before
• 204 national Olympic teams will participate in the Youth Olympics
• Because Singapore is the first host of the Youth Olympics, the livery of the Singapore 2010 logo will be featured in the ceremonial flag for subsequent handovers between future organisers
• The next Youth Olympic Games will be held in Nanjing in 2014. China beat Poland by 5 votes, winning 47 to 42
• Before Youth Olympics, there was the World Youth Games. Also organised by the International Olympic Committee, they were discontinued after the inaugural games in Moscow in 1998.

Other info on the YOG:

Medals (Silver, Gold, Bronze)

Lyo, a lion cub, embodies the values of Excellence and Friendship, while Merly, a merlion, personifies the values of Excellence and Respect.

Theme song (“Everyone”, sung by Sean Kingston, Tabitha Nauser, Steve Appleton, Jody Williams, Jessica Mauboy)