ATHLETICS BEGINS TODAY AT INAUGURAL YOUTH OLYMPICS
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved (Used by permission)

The athletics program of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games begins today in Singapore in Bishan Stadium with qualifying rounds. The Games, which in the athletics program are restricted to athletes born in 1993 and 1994, kicked off last Saturday night with a lavish opening ceremony.

All field events consist of a qualification and finals, and all track events consist of round one and finals, except for the race walks and relays which will be straight finals. Interestingly, there will be no 800m or 1500m races, but rather a 1000m race, instead. Moreover, there are no multi-events, the race walks will be held over the 10,000m distance for boys and 5000m for girls, and the longest running event on the track will be 3000m. The steeplechase events will be held over 2000m. There will also be an unusual medley relay on the final day of athletics competition with 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m legs.

The official website for the Youth Olympic Games is http://www.singapore2010.sg, where some events can be watched live (Singapore is 12 hours ahead of EDT and 7 hours ahead of GMT). Also, the IAAF has prepared a special statistics handbook for download at http://tinyurl.com/3x4mepm.

Games organizers estimate that they will play host to 5000 athletes and officials, 1200 media representatives, and 370,00 spectators. Organizers also said that 205 national Olympic committees have registered to take part from 26 sports.