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One word said it all at the Youth Olympic Village on August 13th: Wow.
The Singapore WOWcomes Youth celebration was the village’s official opening, welcoming all the new tenants for the next two weeks.
Close to 3,600 athletes from 204 countries have moved into their temporary homes and they were welcomed in style by the Singapore 2010 organizers.
With a countdown looming on the big screen, athletes broke out into dance, forming a line of dancers that involved most of the crowd by the time the show started.
The stage filled with drummers, including Canada’s Young Ambassador to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Callum Ng.
Canada was well represented at the festivities. Joining Ng and several members of the 2010 Canadian Youth Olympic Team were athlete role models Charmaine Crooks and Beckie Scott. The Olympic medallists are part of an International Olympic Committee mentoring program that matches the young athletes with some of the world’s greatest athletes.
Joining Crooks and Scott was double gold medal winning pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva, who had some important advice for her young audience: “Do your best, make new friends with your teammates and with athletes from other countries!”
“It was great to see all those athlete role models here,” said Hayden Daniels, who will represent Canada in Canoe/Kayak.
The show was capped by a video preview of the opening ceremony and a group rendition of “Everyone,” the official song of these Games, punctuated with fireworks.
