IOC president Jacques Rogge wants to see the fun factor brought back to the Olympics, complaining Tuesday that they were often too serious and stressful. The International Olympic Committee chief was commenting at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore which has successfully mixed sport with cultural and education programmes.
He said the youth event and the full-blown Olympics complemented each other, and that the successful aspects from Singapore could be incorporated into the more traditional format. "I think that there are things that will definitely be useful," he told reporters. "I think, for instance, to introduce maybe in the traditional Games a more fun factor in the competitions that are sometimes too serious, too heavy and too full of stress."
But Rogge also made clear the distinctiveness of the two sporting occasions. "It would be wrong to say that it (the Youth Olympic Games) is going to be transferable automatically to the traditional games," he said. "The traditional Games will always be bigger and more sophisticated to organise."
With the Youth Olympics wrapping up on Thursday, the IOC president called them an important learning experience for young athletes who will one day be international role models. "Young athletes don't meet athletes from other sports and this is something they need to get used to. We teach them social reflexes that they have to perfect," he said. The Youth Olympics, which have been running since August 14, feature athletes aged 14-to-18 competing in all 26 Olympic sports.