Update On Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Preparation

Update On Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Preparation

At the eleventh Parliament of Singapore, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports gave a written reply to Member of Parliament Mr Seah Kian Peng on the progress of preparations for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) on 26 May 2008.


ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE (FIRST SESSION)

WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER
NOT ANSWERED BY 3.00 PM

MONDAY, 26 MAY 2008



YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES
(Update on Progress of Preparation)

Mr Seah Kian Peng: To ask the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) whether all the key positions for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) organising committee have been filled; and (b) if he will provide an update on the progress of the preparations to-date given that the 2010 YOG is less than two and a half years away.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan:

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the hosting of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games to Singapore on 21 February 2008. Since then, the Singapore Youth Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) has been set up to specifically oversee the planning and delivery of the Games over the next two years.

In March 2008, Mr Ng Ser Miang, International Olympic Committee Executive Board Member in Singapore, was appointed as Chairman of the SYOGOC Board. 21 other members from the public, private and people sectors have also been appointed to the SYOGOC Board. At the executive level, BG Goh Kee Nguan has been appointed as the CEO of SYOGOC. The other key leadership positions in SYOGOC have been identified and 6 out of the 13 senior executives are already on full time employment, with the rest joining the team later. The hiring of the core personnel required for planning and preparation is also ongoing. SYOGOC has adopted a phased approach for staffing, tapping on an initial group of core personnel to identify specific functional requirements before additional staff are brought in for operations. Besides permanent staff, SYOGOC is looking at contract services as well as volunteers to carry out its tasks. SYOGOC is also well supported by the various Ministries and government agencies in terms of officers assigned full-time to SYOGOC to help organise the Games.

The planning and preparations for the YOG are on track. Last month, a seminar with the IOC was held in Singapore for transfer of knowledge, and a detailed project schedule has been developed with clear milestones for this major endeavour. In particular, the construction of the Youth Olympic Village is on track and the schedule of upgrading works for the competition venues is also being finalised. More meetings with the International Sports Federations will be taking place to discuss the technical requirements for the different sports. We have also started development on some of the Culture and Education programmes such as the Schools-NOCs Twinning Programme and the Olympic Education package. The Ministry of Education, together with SYOGOC, will launch the Schools-NOCs Twinning Programme and the Olympic Education by the end of this year. SYOGOC will also be sending a team to observe and learn from the management of the Beijing Olympic Games.


Source: http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20080526985.htm