Five days before the opening of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the flame continues its tour of the host sites. Coming from Les Rousses, in neighboring France, she crossed the border on Saturday to reach the Joux valley. Before the inauguration Thursday in Lausanne.
Lausanne is about to welcome the YOG and its 1880 athletes from 15 to 18 years old. The competitions will be divided between eight sites in Lausanne, Villars, Leysin, Les Diablerets, Champéry (VS), St-Moritz (GR), Les Rousses (F) and near Le Brassus in the Joux valley.
After a three-month trip to the four corners of Switzerland, the flame has just toured the host sites and symbolically crossed the French-Swiss border on Saturday. Throughout this journey, Ian Logan, director general of the organizing committee, felt “a great craze,” he explained to Keystone-ATS.
Young athletes
Several hundred people were present on Saturday on both sides of the Franco-Swiss border. In Bois d’Amont, Virginie Faivre, president of Lausanne 2020, and Thierry Rey, representative of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, carried the flame and lit a basin. Fifteen young athletes from the valley took turns to bring the flame to the Sentier sports center.
On Wednesday, a final torch relay is planned in Lausanne: 200 runners will cover 20.20 kilometers through the streets of the Vaud capital, in two separate routes: one in the center, the other in the south of the city, serving the IOC, Ouchy and the Olympic Museum.
The 200 runners were selected from Vaud sports clubs and schools. Among them are also sportspeople like the former Bernese cyclist Fabian Cancellara and personalities like the Syndic of Lausanne Grégoire Junod and the Vaud State Councilor Philippe Leuba.
From Tuesday the athletes
The heads of mission from the 79 countries participating in the YOG will arrive in Lausanne on Sunday or Monday. And as of Tuesday, the athletes will disembark and take over the Olympic village located on the university site. During their stay, these young people aged 15 to 18 will be under the responsibility of their national Olympic committees.
On the infrastructure side, the organizers say they are “generally ready” even if preparations continue. “There is still a lot to do, but we are on schedule,” says Ian Logan.
The director closely follows three files: the lack of snow in the Joux valley, on the site of the Grandes Roches, forces the organizers to go and get snow on the heights. You must be ready for January 16, the day the cross-country skiing competitions begin.
Lack of snow and ice
Time is running out at Les Diablerets where “the track is great, but there is a bit of snow missing in one place,” says Logan. Finally in St. Moritz (GR), it is the thinness of the layer of ice on the lake that worries. The warm spell two weeks ago delayed the freezing process. The ice takes 1 to 1.5 centimeters thick per day, but it still lacks a few centimeters.
For the three sites, Ian Logan says he is “very confident”: the competitions will take place. In St. Moritz, if necessary, the YOG could delay the competition by a few days or use another small lake, located nearby.
These Lausanne 2020 Winter YOG are the third in history. They are held from January 9 to 22. Some 100,000 spectators, including 70,000 schoolchildren, are expected at the competition sites. (Ps / nxp)
Created: 04.01.2020, 21h46
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