Nanjing celebrates 10 years since hosting the Youth Olympic Games – YOG medallists shone in Paris
06 September 2024 – Ten years ago, the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Nanjing 2014 kickstarted the Olympic careers of multiple Olympic champions from this summer’s Olympic Games Paris 2024. Amongst them were the fastest man this year, 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles, basketball gold medallist Napheesa Collier (both USA), Japanese judoka Hifumi Abe, the Brazilian beach volleyball duo Ana Patricia and Duda, and Chinese table tennis star Fan Zhendong. The Games also wrote a unique chapter in China’s long history of sporting success.
Celebrations were held in Nanjing to mark the 10th anniversary of the Chinese city hosting the YOG. Nanjing hosted the second-ever edition of the Games from 16 to 28 August 2014. The Games featured 3,579 athletes from 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), competing across 222 events, with many going on to enjoy success at the Olympic Games and other elite-level events. From the YOG athletes who competed at Paris 2024, representing 116 NOCs across 38 disciplines, 299 had previously competed at Nanjing 2014.
Nanjing celebrations
“At the time, this was only the second Olympic event to be hosted in China after the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 – and all of China’s deep passion for sport was on full display as Nanjing wrote a unique chapter in the country’s long history of sporting success,” said IOC President Thomas Bach duringfestivities, which were held as part of the World Sports Cities Development Summit.
“By hosting the YOG in Nanjing, China brought the legacy of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 to a new generation. Building on this momentum, China went on to write the next chapter in its great sporting history, when in 2022 Beijing became the first city in the world to host both the summer and winter editions of Olympic Games. Nanjing is therefore an integral part of China’s great contribution to the Olympic Movement.”
Thomas Bach – IOC President
The celebrations marked the culmination of a series of events to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Nanjing 2014, including a YOG-themed photo exhibition, seminars featuring athletes, volunteers and staff involved in the Games, and a special “Nanjing in Paris” event held during the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Incubator for innovation
The YOG Nanjing 2014 also saw the introduction of new sports, events and innovations that have since become regular features of the Olympic Games. Golf, for instance, marked its return to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1904, while rugby sevens made its Olympic debut and more mixed-gender team events were included than ever before.
Nanjing 2014 also gave fans at the YOG the opportunity to enjoy world-class displays of roller sports, skateboarding, sport climbing and wushu at the innovative Sports Lab.
Throughout the Games, large crowds flocked to the facility to view the two-hour showcases that were held for each sport, with top Chinese and international athletes displaying their skills before offering fans the chance to try out the sports for themselves, with skateboarding and sport climbing having since been included at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
Lasting legacies from the YOG
In the 10 years since hosting the YOG, Nanjing has been able to enjoy a number of positive legacies. This has included reusing many of the YOG facilities to host further international sports events, including the 2016 World Roller Speed Skating Championships, the 2017 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup, the 2017 World Skate Vert World Championships, the 2017 World Roller Games, the 2018 Skateboarding Park World Championships, the 2018 BWF Badminton World Championships, the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2018 and 2019 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals.
In addition, Nanjing has become a more active city after making physical activity and sport more accessible to the local population. This has included the launch of the Sunshine Sports programme, which guarantees one hour of sports practice per day to those schools in the programme, and the organisation of almost 4,000 mass participation sporting events in the city in the four years following the YOG, helping to develop a stronger sporting culture.
Dakar ready to step into the spotlight
Following the success of the Winter YOG Gangwon 2024 earlier this year, attention has now turned to Dakar 2026 as the next YOG host.
The YOG Dakar 2026 will take place across two weeks from 31 October 2026, bringing together the world’s best young athletes in Senegal for the first Olympic sporting event to be held on African soil. The Games will be held in three host sites (Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly), and are envisioned to serve as a catalyst to transform Senegal through sport, while also aiming to inspire new hope, opportunities and confidence among young people across Africa and become a blueprint for future YOG hosts.
This approach is embodied in the new motto for the Games, “Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates”, which aims to express how the young people of Africa are ready to welcome the world’s youth to collaboratively shape the ambitions of their shared future during the Games.
