|
|
|
|
 Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games launch the Olympic year!
|
|
We could not dream of a better start for 2020! Successful Winter Youth Olympic Games in the Olympic Capital, and an Observer Programme for Olympic City Mayors and representatives! It was a winning combination!
The year 2020 will allow a great harvest of inspiring ideas on how to prepare, preserve and make our Olympic legacy grow. From Lausanne to Tokyo, from the Winter Youth Olympic Games to the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Cities have a broad range of experiences to share, examples to tag and ideas to cherry pick.
In addition, in 2020, many Olympic Cities will celebrate their Games’ anniversary: Antwerp (100), Rome (60), Squaw Valley (60), Lake Placid (40), Moscow (40), Sydney (20) and Vancouver (10). We are looking forward to working on these celebrations and collecting new inspiring stories and efficient practices to be shared with you!
Happy 2020 and see you in Lausanne in October!
|
|
 On the spot
|
|
Interview with
Grégoire Junod,
Mayor of Lausanne,
President of the World Union of Olympic Cities
|
|
|
The year 2020 got off to an exceptional start in Lausanne! Now that the curtain has come down on the Youth Olympic Games, it is time to take stock on this unique event. What are the ingredients for such a success?
The success of the Games is due to a great organisation combined with a real popular craze and wonderful weather! Both the Olympic competitions and the Lausanne en Jeux! Festival, all free and easily accessible thanks to an attractive mobility fee, served by 3800 volunteers, were an invitation to join the dream and take part in the Games. The audience reached 650'000 people in fourteen days!
The En Jeux! Festival represented 35 venues where parallel activities were hosted, 20 cultural shows, 60 sport and culture institutions and associations involved in Lausanne en Jeux!, 50'000 sport initiations, 100% of renewable energy provided by the City's industrial services, 20 concerts, 25'000 school children participating in cultural and physical activity workshops, and many more.
Beyond these impressive data, I think that the best way to measure the success of the event was to walk in the streets of Lausanne and to attend competitions at the Olympic sites. It was such a great pleasure to see the smiles on kids trying winter sports, to feel the creativity of the vibrant cultural scene as well as the vitality and spirit of innovation of the students, to appreciate the dedication of the volunteers and to take part in young athletes' performances and victories.
The success is made from bits and bits of Lausanne's genuine identity, from culture to sport, from architecture to education, from history to innovation! And now it is time for Lausanne to build upon the Youth Olympic Games and capitalise on this amazing adventure to value its legacy.
What is the asset of having the Olympic Games organised within the Olympic Capital?
It was the first time that the Olympic Games were hosted within the Olympic capital. It generated a great deal of activities related to the Olympic Movement. The IOC organised the 135th Session of the Organisation at the beginning of the Games and then all the IOC Commissions's meetings during the Games. The feeling of being a family has never been so strong: hosting the Olympic Games in the very home of the Olympic Movement gives an additional meaning to the Olympic spirit that reigns in our City.
The World Union of Olympic Cities welcomed a delegation of Mayors and representatives of Olympic Cities from all over the world for a rich Observer Programme. What do these special gatherings bring both to the City and the Union?
I was very pleased to welcome about 50 representatives from 15 Olympic Cities for this Observer Programme. Mayors and other official representatives had the opportunity to be at the heart of the Games for three days. They attended the Opening Ceremony and several competitions in the Ice Rink and at the Alpine Skiing site. They visited the all-in-one Olympic village, designed to become student housing. They were given presentations at the Hotel de Ville on both the organization of the Games and the cultural and sport festival. And they wandered through the city’s streets to feel the unique atmosphere and the popularity of the event.
I am convinced that the efficiency and usefulness of the Union, as for city networks in general, is increased tenfold when people can physically meet, discuss, connect and share. In addition to strengthening the network, on-site meetings at the heart of events give a special flavor of what it is humanly possible to do in terms of sport and culture, in terms of logistics and collaboration, etc. It is inspiring to live the event both as a spectator and an insider! And the first purpose of such gatherings is to offer inspiration to others, to get inspired by others, and to generate ideas to inspire further!
For the City of Lausanne, the Games give a wonderful international exposure. Other Olympic Cities also relay this exposure. Olympic Cities feel at home in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital, and they come here every other year for the Annual Meeting and Smart Cities & Sport Summit. It was more than natural to organise an Observer Programme and provide them with a yet unknown dimension of Lausanne as host city of the Olympic Games.
The next Annual Summit of the World Union of Olympic Cities will be organised at home, in Lausanne, from the 25 to the 28 of October. What could you reveal to whet the Union’s Members' appetite?
The Union strengthens its network every year and our annual gathering remains the key meeting of the Association to take stock and think further. Legacy governance models have not yet delivered all their secrets and there is still a lot to explore in this matter!
The Smart Cities and Sport Summit will address the major challenges faced by cities in the present and future world as well as how to use sport as a powerful instrument to achieve Social Development Goals according to UN commitments by 2030. This programme will allow us to increase collaboration with UN multilateral and other international organisations.
As for the on-site visit, several Olympic Cities are located a few hours from Lausanne. Possibilities are therefore numerous and the Union is currently preparing a stimulating on-site visit!
I am looking forward to seeing you again in Lausanne next autumn and I wish you all a Happy and inspiring Olympic Year 2020!
|
|
 Picked up from the Legacy Inspiration Box
|
|
|
Lausanne en Jeux Festival!
From 9 to 22 January 2020, the city of Lausanne and the seven other host sites of Lausanne 2020 lived to the rhythm of the Youth Olympic Games.
|
|
|
|
In addition to the sporting competitions in which the 1‘880 best young winter athletes from all over the world have surpassed themselves, the Lausanne en Jeux! festival was a great opportunity for all generations to gather and participate in a large variety of activities. Sports initiations, museum visits, shows and concerts as well as the opportunity to enjoy local specialities were offered to the population and visitors! The vast majority of activities was free of charge, with over 300 free activities in Lausanne alone. To learn more about the Lausanne en Jeux! festival, click here!
|
|
 Stay Tuned with the Union
|
|
 On-Going Projects
|
|
2020 Games' anniversary Celebrations: If your City is celebrating in 2020, feel free to contact us and provide us with information about your Celebrations. Tell us ahead of time so that we can announce them in the Newsletter, and tell us about what you did to celebrate and how the celebrations were organised. We would be very interested in collecting such information to prepare a case for the Olympic Legacy Toolkit!
 WWW - Where Were We?
|
|
|
LAUSANNE On January 9, Mayors and Representatives of the Olympic Cities of Ancient Olympia, Barcelona, Dakar, Gangneung City, Lillehammer, Paris, PyeongChang and Sapporo met at the Olympic House to discuss Cities' responsibility in ensuring physical activity and access to sport for their population as well as the role and place of Olympic Cities within the Olympic Movement.
|
|
|
|
LAUSANNE On January 9-11, Mayors and Representatives of Olympic Cities (Ancient Olympia, Athens, Barcelona, Chamonix, Dakar, Gangneung City, Lillehammer, Los Angeles, Paris, PyeongChang, Qingdao, Reno, Sapporo and the City of Rotterdam) attended the Lausanne 2020 YOG Observer Programme. From the unforgettable Opening Ceremony to a tour in the Alps at les Diablerets, from the visit of the Olympic Village to the streets of Lausanne to discover the Festival and feel the atmosphere, participants had an opportunity to get inspired by the Lausanne 2020 Olympic experience and city's achievements.
|
|
|
 On the Cities & Sport Planet
|
|
|
PARIS Between 5 and 7 February 2020, 1,000 global leaders and 50 young change makers will gather at the Louvre in Paris, in the heart of the world’s emerging sports capital, to Shake the industry, Shape its future and Share their experiences and vision. The Global Sports Week is a new cross-sector platform to accelerate change, driven by the next generation. Olympic Cities interested in participating in the event are welcome to contact us. A special discount code will be provided to you!
|
|
|
|
LAUSANNE On 12-13 February 2020, International Federations, Host Cities and a delegation of best of breed industry suppliers will gather for the third annual International Federations Summit. The Summit offers like-minded professionals from across the major sporting events industry to discuss best practices and solutions around event delivery, fan engagement, safety and security. Olympic Cities interested in participating are welcome to contact us. A special discount code will be provided to you!
|
|
|
|
WORLD OLYMPIANS ASSOCIATION The organisation dedicated to Olympians invites Cities to bid to host the next World Olympians Forum and General Assembly. The WOA General Assembly takes place once every four years so every other Forum includes a General Assembly as part of it. To get more information about the hosting requirements, click here.
|
|
|
 Keep an Eye on Olympic Cities
|
|
 What’s going on in your cities?
GANGNEUNG & PYEONGCHANG The province of Gangwon, where the Olympic Cities of Gangneung and PyeongChang are located, will host the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games. The decision was released after the 135th IOC Session held in Lausanne earlier this month. We congratulate them and wish them full success in this adventure!
LAKE PLACID The Host City of the 1948 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games is about to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its second Games with events such as a torch run, 1980's trivia games, and themed parties. Watch Disney's "Miracle" movie based on the gold medal hockey game. Lake Placid will be celebrating athletes from the original winter games and athletes moving towards Olympic goals from February 13 to 23 - the exact week that the 1980 Winter Olympics took place. The entire village, including the Olympic venues, will be on full display. Come to the town where Miracles happen and the legacy lives on!
PARIS From 3 to 8 February, the Olympic and Paralympic Week (SOP) is organised in all schools, educational establishments and higher education establishments of Paris. A week out of the year is dedicated to the promotion of sporting practice among young people and to the mobilization of the educational community around civic and sporting values.
VANCOUVER To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Games, a free public fan festival will be held on Saturday, February 22, at Jack Poole Plaza, the site of the Olympic Cauldron and part of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building, which was the International Broadcast Centre during the Games. Festival programming will include athlete meet and greets, stage performances, sport demonstrations, food and beverage, the relighting of the Olympic Cauldron, and other family-friendly activities. On the same day, a separate ticketed gala will be held inside the convention centre, featuring over 60 Olympians and Paralympians.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
