H O O K E D - 2010 Youth Olympics Open Space Forum

2010 Youth Olympics Open Space Forum

Written by Akshay Kothari

Of the cities that bid to host the games, five were shortlisted by November 2007. They were Athens, Bangkok, Moscow, Singapore and Turin. Each made a strong case. Athens, in particular, made the most poignant argument: the Olympic Games were born in Greece, and it was fitting that the first ever Youth Olympics be held in Greece as well, spanning the millenia to join old and new.

However, by 21st January 2008, Singapore has been further shortlisted, along with Moscow, as the candidate cities remaining in race to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, and another step closer to making history.

In 2001, Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had an idea. He thought up an event that would complement the main Olympic Games. This event would be for younger athletes, between the ages of 14 to 18, held every 4 years, just like the big-boy Olympics.

Six years later, his idea came to fruition in the Youth Olympic Games, the first of which will be held in the summer of 2010. For about 12 days, young athletes and their retinues will converge upon a chosen city and compete. The Games feature 26 sports, including ones unique to the Youth Games, like beach wrestling and BMX biking.

Singapore's bid focused on our city's efficiency, relative youth and connectivity. It is a pioneering move for our city because this is the first time Singapore has made a bid to host a sports event of such magnitude.

Initially, Singapore's aspirations to host the games made a rocky start. PM Lee, in a report on the 15^th of July 2007, had said explicitly that we weren't ready to host the Games. Most of the other cities bidding for the Games had prior hosting experience. Despite this, Singapore's bid has come to the fore. In December'07, a senior IOC official was quoted saying that Singapore should prevail in the race to host the Games.

As part of the campaign to convince the IOC that Singapore is worthy, a blitz of public events have been organised. One of these is the Youth Olympic Games Open Space Forum, which was held at the Plaza at the National Library Building in Victoria Street, on the 12^th of January 2008.

It was organised by the People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM), National Youth Achievement Award Alumni (NYAA) and some other acryonym-happy organisations.

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        The premise of the event was this: students from secondary schools and tertiary institutions be brought together. No agenda. No guidance. Nothing.

        The students were divided into groups. They began to identify issues that they would like to see addressed and suggest answers to those issues. Their ideas were tacked up on the walls for all to see and comment on. The groups were fluid; students were free to move about and join groups whose issues they felt more attached to.

        At the end of all the brainstorming, the students voted for the 3 issues they felt to be the most pertinent, and these are presented to the panel of officials.

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        On the panel were Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, Mr Teo Ser Luck and Mr Ng Ser Miang, the men spearheading Singapore's bid. Copies of all the issues (not just the top three) were collected in a slick package to be circulated among the top officials in the bid.

        The students postulated some thought-provoking stuff. Many expressed their doubt as to whether Singapore was ready, socially and culturally, to host the Games. Others wondered why Singaporean youth should even care if Singapore hosted the Games. A particularly biting issue was why Singapore thought it was ready for the influx of foreign athletes and officials, even though it couldn't reconcile the foreign workers who were already here.

        It was heartening to see young people thinking critically and not blindly jumping onto the pro-Games bandwagon.

        One of the three issues that won the vote was how the games would benefit Singapore as a whole.

        Mr Mah, in reply, said that whether Singapore got the Games or not, we'd already won, because of the enthusiasm he'd seen among the students before him. His comments bore greater significance because the perticipants there had volunteered their Saturday, without any reward of CCA points or community involvement hours, in stark contrast to the usual preception of the mercenary nature of Singapore students.

        According to Mr Mah, if Singapore were so fortunate as to get the Games, the benefits would be economic (tourism), social and cultural.

        Another issue was, interestingly, that Singapore should showcase Singlish with pride as part of our culture. All three panellists were squeamish about Singlish, saying that it'd be better to speak a language that the world could understand.

        Mr Mah, however, made the best comeback by saying we, as Singaporeans, should keep Singlish as our private language.

        Mr Teo stressed his passion for the Games, and said that it was our chance to make Singapore known internationally. Mr Ng spoke about the unique opportunity that the Games afforded Singaporean youths to interact with young people from a smorgasbord of different cultures.

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        The panel retired then. Over a tea reception, Mr Mah addressed a few other issues that had been neglected earlier.

        When this reporter raised his concern that the Games would be using National University of Singapore facilities, and the NUS students would be deprived of their use, Mr Mah admitted that this would happen.

        However, he likened our position to that of a host. When a guest comes to your home, you may have to give him your bedroom and sleep on a couch, but you do it willingly and happily. He also stressed that NUS had more to gain through their interaction with the athletes.

        The student participants were elated by the experience. A student from Ping Yi School told this reporter that he had found the session fun and interesting, because he had been able to mingle with students from different levels and schools. Another student from Hong Kah School was pleased that they had been given the chance to plan out a spectacular closing ceremony for the Games, with fireworks and marching bands and the works.

It was a proud moment for the students and the organisers of the event. When they had begun that morning, they had no agenda. By the end, they'd come up with a plethora of issues and, more importantly, galvanized the youth present that day to become more actively involved in the Games and in civic participation.

Like Mr Mah had said, Games or not, we had already won. hooked

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