From February 12-21, the second Winter Youth Olympic Games is hosted in Lillehammer, Norway. 1100 young athletes from 70 nations will meet for sports, education and celebration.
'Go beyond. Create tomorrow.' With this vision Lillehammer 2016 aim to make a lasting impact on the lives of the athletes, as well as creating a new generation of volunteers, coaches and leaders in sport. Built on the legacy of the '94 Winter Olympic Games, Lillehammer 2016 will create a whole new event with a legacy of its own.
Athletes age 15 to 18 will not only compete in 70 medal events - two of which are curling events [mixed teams and mixed doubles] - they’ll be a part of a learning experience on and off the field of play with a broad educational and cultural experience as essential components of the Youth Olympic Games.
Learn & Share
The educational programme of Lillehammer 2016 aim to empower athletes with new skills that enable them to perform better both on and off the field of play. Most of the Learn & Share activities take place within the Youth Olympic Villages (YOV) in Lillehammer and Hamar. Through concepts like Try the Sport, Dream Day and Hello, World (the school twinning programme), local and visiting youth will also have learning experiences at Lillehammer 2016.
A broad range of activities
The athletes will participate in a broad range of activities. The cooking workshop “Eat Smart” will introduce them to cooking nutritious and healthy food. In the workshop “Motoric Skills”, athletes get to test their motoric skills and get expert advice on how to improve essential athletic skills. In “Mental training” they’ll learn how to focus mentally and prepare for important competitions. Working closely together in Learn & Share, this will be the place where athletes will get connected, not only learning from activities, but from each other beyond cultures and sports.
Learn & Share Focus Day - 17 February 2016
Halfway through Lillehammer 2016, Wednesday February 17, will be dedicated to Learn & Share. All athletes and team officials from the World Curling Federation are invited to a Chat with Champions session and a mixed double draw in the Team Captains Meeting Room in Håkons Hall.
Try the Sport
In cooperation with the International Federations and the National Federations, Lillehammer 2016 will offer local youth and athletes a unique opportunity to try ALL the Olympic Winter Sports in the Lillehammer 2016 sport venues. All athletes will be able to test and try other Olympic Winter Sports when they have time off through Games-time.
The Try the Sport Programme will consist of two parts:
Sjoggfest – Lillehammer 2016 Youth Culture Festival
Sjoggfest will be the most awesome festival the city of Lillehammer has ever seen, featuring artists like Lemaitre, Matoma, Madcon, Nico & Vinz and many others. The culture festival of Lillehammer 2016 is named after the mascot Sjogg, that in turn is named after a local name for snow. The festival will showcase a broad range of culture (music, film, talks, activities and art) with over 150 cultural experiences from Norway. You’ll see some of the biggest Norwegian artists and get to discover new and cool talents in places and ways you maybe didn’t expect. The festival will go down between 5 pm and 10 pm during the weekdays, and all day through the weekends.
All events are free and open to everyone. Most of the events and activities will happen in downtown Lillehammer, many in Sjogg Park (better known as Søndre Park), in addition to a few selected happenings in the other host cities and sport venues. Check out the event on Facebook [http://on.fb.me/1IbnxHt], sjoggfest.no or download the Lillehammer 2016 app for festival programme and more information.
Social media at Lillehammer 2016
Twitter/Instagram: @worldcurling | @Lillehammer2016
Facebook: /WorldCurlingFederation | /Lillehammer2016
Hashtags: #YOGcurling #iLoveYOG #Lillehammer2016