INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) — The International Olympic Committee is hoping for the Winter Youth Games to bring new sports and new formats to the traditional Olympics.
IOC president Jacques Rogge says “we need to rejuvenate. We need to adapt to the wishes of the youths and not stay too conservative.”
The inaugural Winter Youth Olympics kicked off Friday, 15 year after the first junior Summer Olympics took place in Singapore.
“We saw new sports and new formats there, and also here,” Rogge said. “They might enter the traditional Olympic program in the future.”
The event in Innsbruck, which ends Jan. 22, features sports such as snowboard slopestyle and ski halfpipe, which are new to the Olympics. Other events are in new formats with teams of mixed genders.
