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In one year - from 13 to 22 January 2012 Innsbruck will stage the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games. 365 days before the Olympic Flame is lit, preparations are already in full swing. In 2012 they will be held for the first time for 14 to 18-year-old winter athletes, in combination with a cultural and educational programme, which will be open also to the local population. Peter Bayer, CEO of Innsbruck 2012 says: "The innovative mixture of sport and culture as well as the competitions held as part of the Olympic Games for the first time make the organisation of this event a special challenge. One year before the opening of the Games we are excited that they are now so close and we are working at full blast to turn them into a unique experience for the 1,058 athletes." Innsbrucks preparations are on schedule to deliver a memorable first winter edition, which follows the highly successful inaugural Summer Youth OIympic Games in Singapore last August. The young athletes will compete in the same seven sports (biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing) on the programme for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, although a number of the 63 events will feature for the first time in an Olympic event. They include: Biathlon Mixed Relay Luge Team Relay Ski Halfpipe Snowboard Slopestyle Figure Skating Team Event Ice Hockey Skills Challenge Womens Ski Jumping In addition to mixed gender events, there will also be mixed National Olympic Committee (NOC) competitions.
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