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‘THE ORGANISERS ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVING YOUNG PEOPLE IN KEY PROJECTS’LINGWEI LIAboveAn archery taster session during the Olympic Day celebrations at the Green ParkENGAGING WITH LOCAL YOUNGSTERSThe YOG is an event organised for, with and by young people. During the countdown to the start of Buenos Aires 2018, BAYOGOC is laying on a host of activities in schools in a bid to engage with youngsters and give them the chance to participate in the Games and help them to take shape. Since 2014, nearly 400,000 young people have taken part in 1,200 activities organised by BAYOGOC, with around 900 schools involved. The emphasis at all these events has been on creating an atmosphere that is both fun and inclusive. Among the highlights were activities organised on 1 July to celebrate Olympic Day. Channelling the spirit of the YOG, this festival of sport saw 5,500 people take part in sports taster events and cultural and educational activities at the Green Park, one of the four parks hosting events at next year’s YOG.During her most recent visit to the Argentinian capital, Lingwei Li, the interim chair of the IOC’s Coordination Commission, congratulated the Organising Committee on its efforts to engage local youth. “We are delighted to see Buenos Aires 2018 engage with hundreds of thousands of people across the city, and we look forward to seeing the outreach nationwide in the coming months,” she said. “In line with the YOG spirit, the organisers are actively involving young people in key projects such as the design of the pictograms and slogan, and sports presentation. This not only empowers them, but allows young people to create their own legacy around the Games.”In the coming months, 800 children from 10 schools will take part in a project to design the pictograms for the sports on the programme, using tracing pads comprising photos of young Argentinian athletes. Their brief will be to trace the outline of an athlete, with the best sketches chosen by a panel of experts and athletes for use at the YOG. BAYOGOC also unveiled a 55-metre-high mural of Argentinian Olympic judo champion Paula Pareto in Villa Soldati, the district that will host the Youth Olympic Village. A gold medallist at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, Pareto paid a visit to 200 local schoolchildren, who created their own artwork for the project. Designed by four artists, under the supervision of the famous street artist Martín Ron, the mural is the second of three giant street art projects undertaken in the Youth Olympic Park. The image to be used in the third project was chosen after a public vote in which 13,000 local residents took part. Meanwhile, local youngsters created around 60 mosaic murals inspired by OLYMPIC REVIEW 53