2014 Summer Youth Olympics
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games p=Dì'èrjiè Xiàjì Qīngnián Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì, and commonly known as Nanjing 2014, were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, held from 16 to 28 August 2014 in Nanjing, China. These were the first Youth Olympic Games held in China, making it the first country to host both regular and Youth Olympics following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the first Youth Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach.
Bidding process
The International Olympic Committee established the Youth Olympic Games in July 2007. The 2014 host city was elected on 10 February 2010, during the 2010 IOC Session in Vancouver. This was the first election of a Youth Olympic Games host city held in an IOC Session. The elections for the host cities of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and 2012 Winter Youth Olympics were done through postal votes by IOC members.| City | Nation | Votes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nanjing |  ChinaDevelopment and preparationsVenues and infrastructureAll of the venues are located in four zones within Nanjing. All venues with the exception of the cycling road, sailing, and triathlon venues, were temporary.The Nanjing Olympic Sports Center hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
Torch relayThe Youth Olympic torch was designed by the Vatti Corporation Ltd. The torch is known as the "Gate of Happiness." A structure resembling a city gate is featured on the top part of the torch, while its blue colour symbolizes the peaceful tranquility of Nanjing. The Yangtze which flows next to Nanjing is presented as stripes found on the handle of the torch. It is said that the torch is capable of resisting wind speeds of 11 m/s, rainfall of 50mm/h, altitude of up to 4500m and a temperature range of -15˚C to 45˚C.Following Olympic tradition the torch lighting ceremony was held on 30 April 2014 in Athens, Greece at the Panathenaic Stadium where the first Olympic Games were held. Four young athletes from Greece and China competed in a mini-relay. The torch relay was divided into two parts. The first part was a digital relay where people who downloaded an app were able to participate in the relay through an interactive option called "Give Me Fire." When using this feature users were able to pass the Youth Olympic flame to their friends by touching their devices together. The relay visited 258 different online locations from the 204 participating NOCs over a 98-day period. After the digital relay the relay began its physical portion in Nanjing where a 10-day relay was held. 104 torch bearers carried the torch singularly or in pairs over 100 legs. Torch bearers were primarily focused on youth and included individuals from sport, culture, media, volunteers and the International Olympic Committee. Notable torch bearers included two time badminton Olympian gold medalist Lin Dan, 2008 Olympic fencing gold medalist Zhong Man, director Chen Weiya and composer Bian Liunian. The GamesSports222 events, there will be 13 mixed team events, 4 mixed team events, 1 open event, 109 men's events, and 95 women's events. This is a tentative list of the sports program taken from the general presentation of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2014. Golf and Rugby sevens will be contested for the first time. Beach volleyball will replace indoor volleyball and other format changes to sports like field hockey which introduced a five a side format. New events have also been introduced in some of the sports including a shooting mixed gender event among others.Demonstration sportsThese were the demonstration sports in the games:* Calendar222 events are expected to be held over the 2014 Youth Olympics. The schedule will be finalized as the event becomes closer.Participating National Olympic Committees203 out of the 204 National Olympic Committees recognized at that time sent delegates to Nanjing. Among them, both Sierra Leone and Nigeria were planning to participate, but on 13 August 2014 both nations pulled out due to pressure from Chinese Authorities in an attempt to prevent Ebola virus outbreak|Ebola from West Africa] from entering their nation. On 15 August 2014 Liberia also withdrew along with two athletes from Guinea being barred by the International Olympic Committee due to fears that the nature of their sports could pose a risk to other athletes. An athlete from South Sudan competed under the Olympic flag as they did not have a National Olympic Committee. The ten nations with the most athletes are China, Brazil, United States, Australia, Russia, Germany, Egypt, France, Japan, and Mexico.
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Afghanistan|2014 Summer Youth|1
AustraliaAUTAZEBAHBANBARBLR