Just 100 days to go until the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games！

Nanjing Medium

On May 8th, young people across China celebrated the start of the 100-day countdown for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in active and creative ways.

To mark the special day and encourage interest from young people, several celebrations were held in China. In Nanjing, top fencing athlete, Lei Sheng, a champion in the London 2012 Olympic Games, was invited to promote this traditional sport and encourage everyone to get involved. This activity will also be on offer to the public during the Games as part of the ‘sport initiation programme’ which allows spectators to try out the many different sports. In Beijing, the YOG-themed poster design exhibition was held in the Palace Museum and a giant statue of the mascot was exhibited in the city centre. In Hong Kong, a street dance event was held to celebrate the 100-day countdown. Participants were also encouraged to download the Virtual Torch Relay application to allow them to be ‘digital’ torchbearers for Nanjing 2014 and learn more about the Games and the Olympic values.

The city of Nanjing is now entering the final stage of its extensive planning to deliver a Games that mixes high-level exciting sport competition with a fun and interactive culture and education programme. During the build up to this milestone date, Nanjing also celebrated Chinese Youth Day (May. 4th) to rally the Youth Olympic Games volunteers and to reinforce the values of “excellence, friendship and respect”.

At a press conference to announce the 100-day countdown, the Executive President of the Nanjing Youth Olympics Games Organizing Committee（NYOGOC）Yang Wei-ze said, “Nanjing 2014 YOG is ready and we are in games-time testing mode! The Games will become a truly memorable event for all young people involved!“ Chinese Olympic Organizing Committee Vice president, Xiao Tian, approved the preliminary preparations of NYOGOC and said he hoped that the Games would be “exciting and full of Chinese style”. Overall, the NYOGOC aims to make the Youth Olympic Games as successful as possible. To achieve their goal, the whole city of Nanjing will be mobilized to create an environmentally-conscious city with safe traffic systems over the last 100 days. Millions of people in Nanjing are getting ready for the start of YOG and they welcome visitors from all over the world!

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