Watch out London

I thought about titling this post as Youth Olympics. But I think the truth is that if I did, all of those of you who read this outside of Singapore would think it was some sort of school thing.

It isn't. No. This is the latest idea of Jacques Rogge, the IOC president. He felt that the 14-18 year olds needed their own version of the Olympics. Two years ago two cities were interested in bidding, and Singapore beat off the challenge of Moscow. 


For me, the concept is slightly flawed in the first place if the aim is to show off the world's best sport talene. The sports fall into two categories, those where the peak is reached in the mid-twenties to early thirties (athletics, swimming, sailing etc) and those where the last 3 Olympics were won by people aged 12 and below (gymnastics). So, by having something for 14-18 year olds you either get sportsmen before or after their peak. That's beyond trying to squeeze another sporting event into a calendar that this year includes the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.


Nonetheless, Singapore put on an opening ceremony as extravagant as any (I daresay a little more extravagant than London's will be, and certainly a lot more slick and rehearsed). And so let the festival of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) start. Er no - not really. I mean that I've not been to any of the sports - but it is hardly the talk of the town. Frankly, it's more the WHY OG?


So, we don't get the great sport, we don't get the buzz. What do we get? Well - if I'm brutal, we get the nuisance. In South Africa they changed laws so that it became a criminal offence to wear anything with a logo bigger than an ant. So in other words - something that quite frankly ought to be no more than a civil offence rectifiable by damages. Over here, we have WhyOG lanes. In them, you have to give way to WhyOG vehicles. I've no idea what happens to you if you don't - but they do seem to be quite clear. (I hear London is doing something similar - who cares - none of you reading this drive in London).

Still - I will give the WhyOG a chance - probably by going and watching some sailing this weekend. I can do this from the beach, so the worst case scenario is a walk along the, er beach. I doubt that it will be as good as standing on the bank of the Cam during a Gale. I doubt that I will be able to hear the crack of splitting wood combined with the scream of anguish, and the flow of four letter words. Not that I suspect the children are too angelic - just too far away. 

(Actually, I note that over here, swearing doesn't quite happen so much.  And it tends to get a better reaction when you do swear)


Whilst I doubt that London's Olympics will be quite such an Own Goal as the Why OG have, I'm sure that they will be even more along the lines of... well Olympic lines, and laws.