2020 Winter Youth Olympics


The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, officially known as the III Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Lausanne 2020, were the third edition of the Winter Youth Olympics; a major international multi-sport event and cultural festival for teenagers that was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the International Olympic Committee, between 9 and 22 January 2020.
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Bidding process

The bidding calendar was announced by the IOC on 6 June 2013, with the application deadline set for 28 November 2013. Lausanne and Brașov were the only two cities that submitted the bids and were selected as the final candidates.

Host city selection

The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics on 31 July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lausanne was selected by 71 votes to 10, as it got at least 41 votes needed for a majority.
CityNationVotes
Lausanne71
Brașov10

Venues

Lausanne

Vallée de Joux

Alps

The Games

Sports

The Youth Olympic Games featured 8 sports and 16 disciplines. 81 events took place which included 13 mixed team events, 34 men's events, and 34 women's events. Ski mountaineering and women's Nordic combined was featured for the first time in an Olympic event. A mixed-NOC 3-on-3 ice hockey tournament and a women's doubles event in luge were also contested for the first time.

Participating National Olympic Committees

A total of 1,788 athletes from 79 nations qualified, the most for any edition of a Winter Youth Olympics. 12 NOCs made their Winter Youth Olympics debuts: Albania, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkmenistan. Qatar and Turkmenistan have never competed at the Winter Olympics and Haiti competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Calendar


OCOpening ceremony●Event competitions1Event finalsEGExhibition GalaCCClosing ceremony

January9
Thu		10
Fri		11
Sat		12
Sun		13
Mon		14
Tue		15
Wed		16
Thu		17
Fri		18
Sat		19
Sun		20
Mon		21
Tue		22
Wed		Events
CeremoniesOCCC
Alpine skiing2211219
Biathlon21216
Bobsleigh112
Cross-country skiing2226
Curling●●●●●●1●●●●12
Figure skating●●2215
Freestyle skiing122128
Ice hockey●●●●●2●●●●114
Luge2215
Nordic combined213
Short track speed skating2215
Skeleton112
Ski jumping213
Ski mountaineering2215
Snowboarding14229
Speed skating22127
Total events44675632108126881
Cumulative total481421263235374755677381
January9
Thu		10
Fri		11
Sat		12
Sun		13
Mon		14
Tue		15
Wed		16
Thu		17
Fri		18
Sat		19
Sun		20
Mon		21
Tue		22
Wed		Events

Athlete Rolemodels

SportsMale RolemodelsFemale Rolemodels
Alpine skiingSandro Viletta Verena Stuffer
BiathlonHenrik L'Abée-Lund Marie-Laure Brunet
Bobsleigh–Jamie Greubel Poser
Cross-country skiingGianluca Cologna Maria Danou
CurlingJohn Morris Marlene Albrecht
Figure skatingPatrick Chan Sarah Meier-van Berkel )
Freestyle skiing–Hannah Kearney
Ice hockeyMark Streit Florence Schelling
LugeGregory Carigiet Tatjana Hüfner
Nordic combined–Tara Geraghty-Moats
Short track speed skatingViktor Knoch –
SkeletonPascal Oswald –
Ski jumpingJernej Damjan –
Ski mountaineeringYannick Ecoeur Ekaterina Osichkina
SnowboardingAlex Deibold –
Speed skatingLivio Wenger Vanessa Herzog

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on the evening of Thursday 9 January 2020 at the Vaudoise Aréna, in Lausanne.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on the evening of Thursday 22 January 2020 at the Medals Plaza Lausanne. The ceremony featured the flag handover from mayor of Lausanne Grégoire Junod to IOC President Thomas Bach and to the governor of Gangwon Choi Moon-soon as host of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics and the extinguishing of the Youth Olympic flame.

Marketing

Mascot

Yodli the official mascot was unveiled on 8 January 2019 at CIG de Malley before the match between Lausanne HC and HC Davos. Yodli is inspired by a combination of a cow, a Saint Bernard dog, and a goat, and was created by ERACOM. Blue represents the Swiss lakes.

Colours

Magenta, Sky Blue

Tickets

It was announced that all events apart from the opening ceremony would be free to watch in January 2020.

Media coverage