2020 Winter Youth Olympics


The 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, officially known as the III Winter Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Lausanne 2020, was the third edition of the Winter Youth Olympics; a major international multi-sport event and cultural festival for teenagers was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the International Olympic Committee, between 9 and 22 January 2020.

Bidding process

The bidding calendar was announced by the IOC on 6 June 2013, with the application deadline set for 28 November 2013. Lausanne and Brașov were only two cities that submitted the bids and were selected as the final candidates.

Host city selection

The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics on 31 July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lausanne was selected by 71 votes to 10, as it got at least 41 votes needed for a majority.

Venues

Lausanne

Sports

The Youth Olympic Games will feature 8 sports and 16 disciplines. 81 events, there will be 13 mixed team events, 34 men's events, and 34 women's events. Ski mountaineering and women's Nordic combined will feature for the first time in an Olympic event. A mixed-NOC 3-on-3 ice hockey tournament and a women's doubles event in luge will also be contested for the first time.

Participating National Olympic Committees

A total of 1,788 athletes from 79 nations qualified, the most for any edition of a Winter Youth Olympics. 12 NOC's are scheduled to make their Winter Youth Olympics debuts: Albania, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkmenistan. Haiti, Qatar and Turkmenistan have also never competed at the Winter Olympics.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee

Calendar

Medal table

Athlete Rolemodels

SportsMale RolemodelsFemale Rolemodels
Alpine skiingSandro Viletta Verena Stuffer
BiathlonHenrik L'Abée-Lund Marie-Laure Brunet
Bobsleigh–Jamie Greubel Poser
Cross-country skiingGianluca Cologna Maria Danou
CurlingJohn Morris Marlene Albrecht
Figure skatingPatrick Chan Sarah Meier-van Berkel )
Freestyle skiing–Hannah Kearney
Ice hockeyMark Streit Florence Schelling
LugeGregory Carigiet Tatjana Hüfner
Nordic combined–Tara Geraghty-Moats
Short track speed skatingViktor Knoch –
SkeletonPascal Oswald –
Ski jumpingJernej Damjan –
Ski mountaineeringYannick Ecoeur Ekaterina Osichkina
SnowboardingAlex Deibold –
Speed skatingLivio Wenger Vanessa Herzog

Records

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games took place on the evening of Thursday 9 January 2020 at the Vaudoise Aréna, in Lausanne.

Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games will take place on the evening of Thursday 22 January 2020 at the Vaudoise Aréna, in Lausanne. The ceremony will feature the flag handover from mayor of Lausanne Grégoire Junod then to IOC President Thomas Bach and to the governor of Gangwon Choi Moon-soon as host of the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics and the extinguishing of the Youth Olympic flame.

Marketing

Mascot

Yodli the official mascot was unveiled on 8 January 2019 at CIG de Malley before match between Lausanne HC and HC Davos. Yodli is inspired by a combination of a cow, a Saint Bernard dog, and a goat, and was created by ERACOM. Blue represents the Swiss lakes.

Colours

Magenta, Sky Blue

Tickets

It was announced that all events apart from the opening ceremony would be free to watch in January 2020.

Media coverage