New era dawns on YOG athletes

SINGAPORE – The Youth Olympic Games wraps up a fortnight of competitions, fun and education tonight (Thursday) in a festive celebration marking not the end of the games but the beginning of a new era for the world’s young athletes.

The two-hour long rites promise to be a lively bash celebrating the spirit of youth, music and dance in a concert-like atmosphere culminating in the biggest-ever party held at The Float@Marina Bay here.

“The essence of the closing ceremony is to blaze the trail for the Youth Olympics that will take place every four years,” said Brig. Gen. Ishak Ismail, chair of the YOG opening and closing ceremonies.

“It is also for the athletes to make decisions on what’s next,” he said.

Nine Filipinos were among the 3,600 athletes who took part in the two-week long competition held to inspire youth around the world to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. And despite their failed bid to land a medal for the country in their respective events, they still came out with heads held high.

“We’re very happy to have competed here. It’s once in a lifetime chance and it’s a great honor to represent our country against the best in our age groups in the world,” said swimmer Jasmin Alkhaldi and powerlifter Patricia Llena, who competed in weightlifting.

Netter Jeson Patrombon stumbled in the first round in boys’ singles and in the doubles in partnership with Yuki Bhambri of India, while the team’s other swimmer, Jessie Lacuna, reached the finals of the 200m free but wound up eighth.

Taekwondo jin Kirk Barbosa nearly delivered a medal for Team RP but dropped a close 7-8 decision to Gili Haimovitz of Israel, who went on to capture the gold in the -48kg division.

The foursome of Bobby Ray Parks, Jeron Teng, Cris Tolomia and Michael Pate failed to shake the first day jitters and lost their first three matches to drop out of the race. But they swept their last four games and salvaged ninth place in the 3-on-3 basketball competitions that proved to be a big hit.

Despite the setbacks and medal-less stint, an RP team official said the lean team made an impact and that was enough, perhaps in keeping with the YOG principle of downplaying winning and the medal race and focusing not just on performance but on becoming role models.

That is also what the closing ceremony is all about.

“It’s an opportunity and forum for us to gather and reflect on what it means to open this chapter in Olympic history,” said creative director Ivan Heng. “We can think about the connections we’ve made over the past 14 days, with friends, colleagues and for the youth, with themselves, finding their voice.”

He added: “It’s our hope that these young athletes will bring what they have learned here back to their country where I’m sure they’ll be looked upon as role models.”

Nanjing, China will host the second YOG in 2014.

Although the YOG didn’t keep an official medal tally, the ranking based on the data provided by IOC showed Asia dominate the games with China, host of this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, lording it over the 204-NOC field with 29 golds, 16 silvers and five bronzes. Russia placed second with a 16-13-10 haul followed by South Korea, which had a 10-2-4 take.

Ukraine closed out with 9-9-14 followed by mixed-NOCs (8-7-8), Japan (7-5-3), Hungary (6-4-5), Australia (5-12-8), Italy (5-7-5), Cuba (5-3-2) and France (5-2-6).