Ok, finally something that is more distanced from the emo blogger.
The "Final Match" Lineup is set - Singapore, Singapore vs. Moscow, Russia.
Sounds like a Hobbits vs. Orcs matchup eh?
Read the press release from the horse's mouth here (and not some other more mediated sources - you know right? *winks*).
Excerpts:
"[Headline] Moscow and Singapore to run for election to host the first Summer Youth Olympic Games 21 January 2008...
[Intro] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today unveiled the names of the cities from which a final winner to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 will be voted on by the IOC membership. Moscow and Singapore were chosen through a postal vote by the Executive Board last week... The winning city will be announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge in a live web cast on www.olympic.org provisionally scheduled for 21 February.
The EB decision’s on the two 2 finalists was based on an IOC Evaluation Commission report... [Download the report here]"
More excerpts from the report:
MOSCOW
"Through its analysis of Moscow’s candidature file, initial guarantees and photographic files, the Panel of Experts gave Moscow’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games a positive assessment and particularly mentioned strong national and local government support, a well-clustered venue plan, an excellent and coherent education programme focusing on the alliances between sport, education and culture, robust financial backing and a high level of experience in hosting international multi-sports events as the bid’s principal strengths. The Panel of Experts questioned the high proposed average operating speed on the Olympic transport network, believed the culture and education programmes may be over-scoped and indicated its concern about the possible effect, if any, of the organisation of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi on the Youth Olympic Games marketing effort [My emphasis]...
To conclude its analysis, the Evaluation Commission believes Moscow’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games offers minimal risk to the IOC.
A solid Youth Olympic Games plan, backed by strong local and national government involvement and guarantees, together with existing competition venues, a vast experience in hosting large multi-sport events and a serviced Youth Olympic Village, would allow Moscow to rapidly transition into an organising committee and start working towards the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games. The Evaluation Commission’s confidence in Moscow’s ability to deliver was reinforced by the powerful, focused and detailed vision demonstrated by all stakeholders throughout the documents submitted to the IOC and during the video conference call. Based on the long-established philosophy and current financial investments of the city towards participation in sports and hosting international sports events, the bid committee explained the relevance of the Youth Olympic Games project to the long-term strategy of Moscow. The Evaluation Commission also notes that the global digital reach and excellence of Moscow’s culture and education programmes show a thorough understanding of the Youth Olympic Games concept and objectives."
SINGAPORE
"Through its analysis of Singapore’s candidature file, initial guarantees and photographic files, the Panel of Experts gave Singapore’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games a positive assessment and particularly mentioned strong government support, a compact venue plan, dynamic, professional and well-thought-out culture and education programmes as well as sound financial backing as the bid’s principal strengths. The Panel of Experts indicated that the bid’s main area of risk concerned the construction of the proposed Youth Olympic Village project and new Equestrian venue within the timeframe available to organise the Youth Olympic Games in 2010 [My emphasis]...
To conclude its analysis, the Evaluation Commission believes Singapore’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games offers minimal risk to the IOC.
A solid Youth Olympic Games plan, backed by strong government involvement and guarantees, would allow Singapore to transition into an organising committee without delay and immediately begin working towards the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games. While Singapore has experience of hosting major international events, it has little recent experience of hosting large multi-sport events and the bid committee assured the Evaluation Commission that it would also seek support from experts in the field of sport as required. The Evaluation Commission’s confidence in Singapore’s ability to deliver was reinforced by the unified and focused vision clearly demonstrated by all stakeholders throughout the documents submitted to the IOC and during the video conference call. Based on existing programmes aimed at youth within Singapore, the bid committee explained the relevance of the Youth Olympic Games project for the long-term strategy of Singapore and South East Asia in general. The Evaluation Commission also notes that Singapore’s innovative and dynamic culture and education programmes demonstrate a thorough understanding of the Youth Olympic Games concept and objectives."
Of course, this is only the gists of the report - the 17-page document is available for download and scrutiny. Seems like these two cities are neck-to-neck in the race for the 100+ IOC member votes. My personal view:
1. Infrastructure: Moscow seems to hold the upper hand; venues are more or less prepared for a big-scale event with not temp venues involved, while SG has to build a few temp venues, plus the approval of the Equestrian venue seemingly a major hundrance to SG's bid. SG's proposal also included building a Youth Olympic Village in (guess?)... NUS?! I suspect (ok I've not been following local developments that keenly...) that it's that former golf course that NUS had acquired, the one opposite UCC and across the AYE. And should that fail to materialise by Feb 2010, the back-up plan is... NTU?! Read on...
"To further investigate the Youth Olympic Village project, the Evaluation Commission sent an
independent expert in the field of construction to Singapore to gain a better understanding of the project. The ambitious USD 423 million project, owned and funded by the National University of
Singapore through government grants, aims to further develop the existing campus and create a high quality residential and educational atmosphere using an environmentally sustainable design concept...
Launched in 2005 and well underway, the project has been designated by the government as a top priority project benefiting from the highest possible level of administrative fast tracking. Master plans have been finalised, on-site preparatory work is underway and construction is due to begin in January 2008. The Singapore government has approved extended construction working hours for this project, thus allowing for multiple shift work to further reduce construction time. While the project remains very ambitious and its completion by February 2010 challenging, the independent technical expert mandated by the IOC believes that, with careful planning and strict monitoring by the dedicated project team already in place, the timeframe proposed appears feasible...
In addition, the element of risk associated with the Youth Olympic Village was reduced through the submission by the Singapore bid committee of a detailed and guaranteed proposal for an alternative Youth Olympic Village at the existing Nanyang Technological University campus with a capacity of more than 9,000 beds..."
Very interesting proposals, I must say. Looks like life on varsity campus will be pretty exciting, at least for a few weeks in 2010. However, how the Games Committee (should they succeed) are going to manage to accomodate the number of participants and officials, amongst others, remains to be seen. This is complicated by the problem that there is an ever increasing number of varsity students enrolling into either NUS or NTU; it will be interesting to observe how they (and the Games Comm) iron out the accomodation issues within the exisiting (and probably burgeoning issue come 2010) complications. I think there's a high chance that both campuses might be involved in the end.
2. Budget: Ok just a quick one for comparison, 'cos I know next to nought regarding the economics of running anything bigger than my daily expenses. Moscow -> USD$180 mil vs. SG -> USD$75.5 mil. Pretty huge difference, if you ask me. However, I advise the interested reader to read the report in detail, where the breakdown of spending is more clearly illustrated, before arriving at a conclusion over who has an advantage. For me, Moscow edged ahead again here. Of course, there are ALWAYS means to level the playing field *snigger*...
3. Support from within: This one, i feel SG has a slight edge. It seems that the State and the relevant agencies have presented a more cohesive and coordinated proposal to IOC in terms of pulling the whole thing together, with them promising a very active role in the whole project.
4. Experience: As noted in the report, SG falls short on this, in terms of organising a big-scale sports event. Moscow scores, again.
5. "Novelty" Factor: Something I came up with; just as Moscow offers experience, SG offers the IOC an example, if successful, to show that it doesn't need to rely on the traditional cities (and the usual issues [financial, ticketing, etc] that seem to plague about every Olympic Games) to host major sporting events. If the Olympic Games symbolise the "old order," the Youth Olympic Games should be characterise by the "new" or "emergent order." Not only does SG offers a refreshing change to the international sporting arena, it also demonstrates that size isn't everything, that with sound management and tight cooperation from within (hopefully), a large-scale event like this is possible, that people in this red dot can witness for themselves events and competition of the highest quality.
Ok, just a brief sum-up. No time for any further details. The report is worth a look or two. Results out in a month's time!
Signing off................... Back to business...............
RC
The "Final Match" Lineup is set - Singapore, Singapore vs. Moscow, Russia.
Sounds like a Hobbits vs. Orcs matchup eh?
Read the press release from the horse's mouth here (and not some other more mediated sources - you know right? *winks*).
Excerpts:
"[Headline] Moscow and Singapore to run for election to host the first Summer Youth Olympic Games 21 January 2008...
[Intro] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today unveiled the names of the cities from which a final winner to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 will be voted on by the IOC membership. Moscow and Singapore were chosen through a postal vote by the Executive Board last week... The winning city will be announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge in a live web cast on www.olympic.org provisionally scheduled for 21 February.
The EB decision’s on the two 2 finalists was based on an IOC Evaluation Commission report... [Download the report here]"
More excerpts from the report:
MOSCOW
"Through its analysis of Moscow’s candidature file, initial guarantees and photographic files, the Panel of Experts gave Moscow’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games a positive assessment and particularly mentioned strong national and local government support, a well-clustered venue plan, an excellent and coherent education programme focusing on the alliances between sport, education and culture, robust financial backing and a high level of experience in hosting international multi-sports events as the bid’s principal strengths. The Panel of Experts questioned the high proposed average operating speed on the Olympic transport network, believed the culture and education programmes may be over-scoped and indicated its concern about the possible effect, if any, of the organisation of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi on the Youth Olympic Games marketing effort [My emphasis]...
To conclude its analysis, the Evaluation Commission believes Moscow’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games offers minimal risk to the IOC.
A solid Youth Olympic Games plan, backed by strong local and national government involvement and guarantees, together with existing competition venues, a vast experience in hosting large multi-sport events and a serviced Youth Olympic Village, would allow Moscow to rapidly transition into an organising committee and start working towards the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games. The Evaluation Commission’s confidence in Moscow’s ability to deliver was reinforced by the powerful, focused and detailed vision demonstrated by all stakeholders throughout the documents submitted to the IOC and during the video conference call. Based on the long-established philosophy and current financial investments of the city towards participation in sports and hosting international sports events, the bid committee explained the relevance of the Youth Olympic Games project to the long-term strategy of Moscow. The Evaluation Commission also notes that the global digital reach and excellence of Moscow’s culture and education programmes show a thorough understanding of the Youth Olympic Games concept and objectives."
SINGAPORE
"Through its analysis of Singapore’s candidature file, initial guarantees and photographic files, the Panel of Experts gave Singapore’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games a positive assessment and particularly mentioned strong government support, a compact venue plan, dynamic, professional and well-thought-out culture and education programmes as well as sound financial backing as the bid’s principal strengths. The Panel of Experts indicated that the bid’s main area of risk concerned the construction of the proposed Youth Olympic Village project and new Equestrian venue within the timeframe available to organise the Youth Olympic Games in 2010 [My emphasis]...
To conclude its analysis, the Evaluation Commission believes Singapore’s project to host the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games offers minimal risk to the IOC.
A solid Youth Olympic Games plan, backed by strong government involvement and guarantees, would allow Singapore to transition into an organising committee without delay and immediately begin working towards the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games. While Singapore has experience of hosting major international events, it has little recent experience of hosting large multi-sport events and the bid committee assured the Evaluation Commission that it would also seek support from experts in the field of sport as required. The Evaluation Commission’s confidence in Singapore’s ability to deliver was reinforced by the unified and focused vision clearly demonstrated by all stakeholders throughout the documents submitted to the IOC and during the video conference call. Based on existing programmes aimed at youth within Singapore, the bid committee explained the relevance of the Youth Olympic Games project for the long-term strategy of Singapore and South East Asia in general. The Evaluation Commission also notes that Singapore’s innovative and dynamic culture and education programmes demonstrate a thorough understanding of the Youth Olympic Games concept and objectives."
Of course, this is only the gists of the report - the 17-page document is available for download and scrutiny. Seems like these two cities are neck-to-neck in the race for the 100+ IOC member votes. My personal view:
1. Infrastructure: Moscow seems to hold the upper hand; venues are more or less prepared for a big-scale event with not temp venues involved, while SG has to build a few temp venues, plus the approval of the Equestrian venue seemingly a major hundrance to SG's bid. SG's proposal also included building a Youth Olympic Village in (guess?)... NUS?! I suspect (ok I've not been following local developments that keenly...) that it's that former golf course that NUS had acquired, the one opposite UCC and across the AYE. And should that fail to materialise by Feb 2010, the back-up plan is... NTU?! Read on...
"To further investigate the Youth Olympic Village project, the Evaluation Commission sent an
independent expert in the field of construction to Singapore to gain a better understanding of the project. The ambitious USD 423 million project, owned and funded by the National University of
Singapore through government grants, aims to further develop the existing campus and create a high quality residential and educational atmosphere using an environmentally sustainable design concept...
Launched in 2005 and well underway, the project has been designated by the government as a top priority project benefiting from the highest possible level of administrative fast tracking. Master plans have been finalised, on-site preparatory work is underway and construction is due to begin in January 2008. The Singapore government has approved extended construction working hours for this project, thus allowing for multiple shift work to further reduce construction time. While the project remains very ambitious and its completion by February 2010 challenging, the independent technical expert mandated by the IOC believes that, with careful planning and strict monitoring by the dedicated project team already in place, the timeframe proposed appears feasible...
In addition, the element of risk associated with the Youth Olympic Village was reduced through the submission by the Singapore bid committee of a detailed and guaranteed proposal for an alternative Youth Olympic Village at the existing Nanyang Technological University campus with a capacity of more than 9,000 beds..."
Very interesting proposals, I must say. Looks like life on varsity campus will be pretty exciting, at least for a few weeks in 2010. However, how the Games Committee (should they succeed) are going to manage to accomodate the number of participants and officials, amongst others, remains to be seen. This is complicated by the problem that there is an ever increasing number of varsity students enrolling into either NUS or NTU; it will be interesting to observe how they (and the Games Comm) iron out the accomodation issues within the exisiting (and probably burgeoning issue come 2010) complications. I think there's a high chance that both campuses might be involved in the end.
2. Budget: Ok just a quick one for comparison, 'cos I know next to nought regarding the economics of running anything bigger than my daily expenses. Moscow -> USD$180 mil vs. SG -> USD$75.5 mil. Pretty huge difference, if you ask me. However, I advise the interested reader to read the report in detail, where the breakdown of spending is more clearly illustrated, before arriving at a conclusion over who has an advantage. For me, Moscow edged ahead again here. Of course, there are ALWAYS means to level the playing field *snigger*...
3. Support from within: This one, i feel SG has a slight edge. It seems that the State and the relevant agencies have presented a more cohesive and coordinated proposal to IOC in terms of pulling the whole thing together, with them promising a very active role in the whole project.
4. Experience: As noted in the report, SG falls short on this, in terms of organising a big-scale sports event. Moscow scores, again.
5. "Novelty" Factor: Something I came up with; just as Moscow offers experience, SG offers the IOC an example, if successful, to show that it doesn't need to rely on the traditional cities (and the usual issues [financial, ticketing, etc] that seem to plague about every Olympic Games) to host major sporting events. If the Olympic Games symbolise the "old order," the Youth Olympic Games should be characterise by the "new" or "emergent order." Not only does SG offers a refreshing change to the international sporting arena, it also demonstrates that size isn't everything, that with sound management and tight cooperation from within (hopefully), a large-scale event like this is possible, that people in this red dot can witness for themselves events and competition of the highest quality.
Ok, just a brief sum-up. No time for any further details. The report is worth a look or two. Results out in a month's time!
Signing off................... Back to business...............
RC
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