Glasgow Youth Games ‘crucial’, says Lord Coe

GLASGOW’S ’s bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) could be the “crucial next step” in helping to get youngsters interested and involved in sport on the back of London 2012’s success, Lord Coe has claimed.

The athletes’ village will be “vibrant, welcoming and inspiring” and 85 per cent of the 17 proposed competition venues will be 20 minutes or less travel time away, Glasgow’s bid team claimed. “Legacy does not happen by itself,” said Lord Coe, London 2012 chairman and the new British Olympic Association chairman.

The bid is being drafted on the basis that international athletes, aged from 15 to 18, will compete in all 28 Olympic sports over 12 days of world-class competition. The first winter YOG was held this year in Innsbruck, Austria. The next will be in 2016 at Lillehammer, Norway.