The World Competes

One Olympic development that I think is pretty interesting is the Youth Olympic Games. This summer will be the first Youth Olympic Games, which will take place in Singapore from 14 to 26 August, 2010.

The Youth Olympic Games occur in the same year as the regular Olympic Games, yet in the opposite season. For example, this year we have the Winter Olympics, the Youth Olympics will be having their Summer Olympics. They give the opportunity to young people ages 14 to 18 to participate in Olympic events.

The Olympics have changed a lot since they were first introduced, and the Youth Olympics are a good way to counteract that change, I think. In the early days of the Olympics, there was a wider age range that seemed to be acceptable in some of the sports. For example, Sonja Henie first competed in the Olympics at age 11. While she didn’t medal that year, she would compete in the next three Olympics, receiving a gold medal in each.

While the maximum age range for Olympians has gone up in some sports (Dara Torres swimming and winning medals at age 40, for example), in other events, the shelf life of an athlete is very small. Since 1920, nobody has ever received a gold medal in women’s figure skating past the age of 24 (Sasha Cohen, who tried to make the 2010 Olympics, is 25). Although a 35 year old received a silver medal in all-around women’s gymnastics in 1956, and Svetlana Khorkina did receive a silver all-around medal in 2004, younger athletes often have a better chance in some events. Since athletes can’t participate in the Olympics until they are 16, this gives an extra opportunity for younger athletes to compete, especially in sports where you are sometimes considered to be past your prime at age 18.

Not everybody likes the concept. Some think that the pressure is too great on younger athletes already. Pressure on young athletes is already there. Many already have to deal with high stakes. In order to pay for the costs of certain sports, some parents of athletes sacrifice a lot for their kids, like taking out second mortgages on their homes and the like. Do you think that might cause a little pressure? We’ll see how they turn out this summer.