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YOUNG AMBASSADORS DISCUSS YOUTH EMPOWERMENTIn keeping with Olympic Agenda 2020’s commitment to “communicating with the youth”, IOC President Thomas Bach met a group of young leaders in November to hear their ideas on how the IOC should empower young people. The group, which was composed of 11 Young Ambassadors (YAs) who have been involved in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), four representatives from the Lillehammer 2016 YOG, a handful of young social entrepreneurs and IOC Member Danka Barteková, took part in a three-day summit in Lausanne (Switzerland). The summit gave them a platform to present their own social projects, share their thoughts and recommendations with the IOC and develop their leadership skills.Their recommendations included staging a gala event to recognise young sports leaders, an annual youth forum and creating a database of young leaders and their projects to share best practices and promote good initiatives.Below President Bach meets with the young leadersThe IOC Executive Board has agreed to add dance sport, karate and sport climbing to the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Buenos Aires 2018 sports programme, in addition to the 28 sports already on the Olympic programme for the third summer YOG. Following the YOG Tripartite Working Group recommendations for the future of the YOG, which were adopted by the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro last August, the Buenos Aires 2018 Organising Committee (BAYOGOC) proposed to add the three new sports to bring even more innovation to its Games.Inspired by the success of the Nanjing 2014 Sports Lab, and in line with the Buenos Aires 2018 mission to “bring sport to the people”, BAYOGOC has proposed that the three sports be integrated into the Urban Park and Youth Olympic Park – two of the four-parks concept that will be spread across the city, featuring a mix of sport, culture and educational activities.The three new sports reflect the IOC’s and Buenos Aires 2018’s shared goal of building youth engagement, and represent a mix of emerging, universal and urban sports with a significant youth appeal. Karate and sport climbing will offer fans a taste of what’s to come in 2020 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, and will strengthen the YOG’s reputation to act as an incubator and place of innovation for the Olympic Movement.With gender parity set to be achieved for the first time at an Olympic event at Buenos Aires 2018, the sports will also feature equal numbers of men and women. Dance sport will feature men’s, women’s and mixed team breakdancing in a battle format; karate will consist of three “kumite” events per gender; and sport climbing will be a combined event of the three climbing disciplines for both men and women.THREE NEW SPORTS JOIN BUENOS AIRES 2018 PROGRAMMEAbove (from left) Dance sport, karate and sport climbing will all feature in Buenos AiresOn 10 January, the Lausanne 2020 Organising Committee, along with stakeholders, friends and supporters, gathered to celebrate the three years remaining until the Opening Ceremony of the 3rd Winter Youth Olympic Games.Among those in attendance were representatives of the city of Lausanne, the Swiss Olympic Committee, national sports federations, cantonal and national education authorities, and host venues of competitions.“This symbolic date is an opportunity for us to pause for a moment and appreciate the quantity and the quality of the work carried out to date,” said Lausanne 2020 President Patrick Baumann. “These groundwork activities are not the most visible to the general public, but they are vital for the future success of the event.”The Organising Committee is now finalising its “Games Foundation Plan”, the practical organisational road map for the Games, which is to be submitted to the IOC in March.LAUSANNE 2020 CELEBRATES MILESTONE24 OLYMPIC REVIEW