The 2011 Isle of Man Commonwealth Youth Games has officially closed with a ceremony and lively athletes' party to mark the end of the fourth Commonwealth Youth Games. A 1500-strong audience of athletes, officials and VIPs, were treated to a 30-minute show, before speeches from David Cretney, the Isle of Man Governments Minister for Community, Culture and Leisure, and President of the Commonwealth Games Federation the Hon. Michael Fennell. The athletes and officials then assembled on Douglas promenade in their country line-ups before marching into the Villa Broadway Gardens and reassembling in the sports that they participated in over the four days, demonstrating the friendships created during the Games. The next Commonwealth Youth Games will be held in 2015 in Samoa. Isle of Man officially handed the ceremonial Quaich, the Scottish Cup symbolising love and friendship, to Vui Tapasu Leung of Samoa, hosts of the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games. Leung then gave a Tanoa, a Samoan symbol of Peace and Unity to Geoff Karran, MBE, chair of the organising committee. New Zealand Chef de Mission Peter Wardell said: We have enjoyed a fantastic Commonwealth Youth Games and seen some world class performances from our future stars in a number of sports. "I look forward to following the progress of the athletes in the years to come. New Zealand coming in fourth on the medals table with a total of 20 medals including six gold, six silver and eight bronze. The Games proved a success for New Zealand swimmers who picked up most of New Zealands medals. The final day of competition saw wins in the Mens 200 Butterfly (Alexander Hancock), the Mens 100m backstroke (Corey Main), the womens 100m Butterfly (Sophia Batchelor), the Womens 4x100 Medley Relay and the Mens 400m freestyle (Matthew Hutchins). Silvers in the swimming came in the Womens 50 Butterfly (Sophia Batchelor), Mens 200 Freestyle (Mathew Hutchins) and the Mens 1500 Freestyle (Mathew Hutchins). Also in the swimming was a bronze in the Mens 100 Butterfly (Alexander Hancock), Womens 200 Backstroke (Sophia Batchelor), Womens 200 Breaststroke (Natasha Lloyd), Mens 50 Butterfly (Alexander Hancock) and in the Mens 4x 200 Freestyle Relay. Completing the tally of medals for New Zealand was two silvers in Gymnastics (Brittany Robinson), silver in the womens triple jump (Greer Aslop), a bronze in the womens shot put (Chei Kenneally) and bronze in the Mens 200m in athletics (Dalton Coppins). Britain came in at top of the table for medals with 37 gold and Australia finished in second with a total of 29 gold. Hundreds of young athletes from 63 Commonwealth countries were part of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Isle of Man.
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