British Olympic Association to consider 2018 Youth Olympics Bid

The British Olympic Association (BOA) announced that it\'s considering bidding for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and has opened a process inviting applications from cities in the UK who wish to put themselves forward as a possible candidate city for the Games. Interested cities are invited to submit applications to be considered by the BOA as a possible 2018 candidate city, should the BOA ultimately decide to proceed with a bid. The deadline for interested cities\' submissions is 30th January 2012. The BOA will decide by the end of February whether the organisation will go ahead with a bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, and if so, which city will be put forward to the IOC as the candidate city for the bid. Ultimately, the IOC will produce a short list of candidate cities in January 2013, before announcing the winning host city in the summer of 2013. The inaugural Youth Olympic Games took place in Singapore in 2010 and the second edition is due to take place in Nanjing, China in 2014. The 2018 YOG will involve 3,600 young athletes, aged 15 -18, participating across all of the 28 summer Olympic sports for a duration of 12 days. The athletes will not only compete at the highest level of youth international sport, but will also take part in a Culture and Education Programme, which is based on the following themes: Olympism & Olympic values; Skill Development; Well-being and healthy lifestyle; Social responsibility and Expression through digital media. At the inaugural summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, Team GB\'s 39 athletes won 13 medals across 8 sports. The first winter Youth Olympic Games take place in Innsbruck, Austria, from 13-22 January 2012. Team GB will be represented by 23 athletes in 9 winter Olympic disciplines.