International Canoe Federation

And International Federations of participating sports have created new formats which are specific to the Youth Olympic Games and were adopted for their relevance to the young participants and the young audience.

Canoeing at the Youth Olympics will be quite different to those at the regular Olympic Games. The courses, for both Canoe Sprint and Canoe Slalom, will feature two circuits for athletes to compete head-to-head with seven rounds to reach the gold medal. Also, as there is no whitewater in Singapore, Canoe Slalom will be an obstacle-based race, meaning it can also be held in the Marina Reservoir, alongside the Canoe Sprint races.

At a technical test event held in France in Februrary 2009, the ICF and Singapore YOG observers were encouraged by the contest’s success. Even at these preliminary stages it was clear that one of the most obvious benefits was the close vicinity of the race to spectators. The courses were no less than 100m from the finish line, so everyone had a great view of all the action.

Many sports will hold different formats to their traditional events. Here are just a few examples:

1. In swimming, men and women compete together in the mixed-gender relay and shorter 50m distances for backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly events, have been added.
2. In Cycling athletes in mixed-gender teams will take on the challenge of riding three different kinds of bike – BMX, mountain bike and road.
3. Basketball is going to be played 3-on-3 at the YOG, as opposed to 5-on-5 in most competitions. It’s also going to be played on a half-court, with one basket, to reflect the urban nature of the sport.
4. In Archery, mixed teams does not mean just men and women, athletes can be from the same or different countries.

Some of the formats such as 3-on-3 basketball already existed, but will be lifted to a new level through the Youth Olympic Games. In addition, the world’s best athletes in their age groups and sports will be competing in these events, so of course this will be serious competition.

Jean Michel Prono, Technical Chair of the ICF's Canoe Slalom Committee gives a background on the new format: “When the IOC created the Youth Olympic Games, it was clear they were looking for something different, something new. We worked together to propose the different format, joining both Olympic disciplines, but not necessarily on the same distance or on the same venue, especially in Slalom, we knew that Singapore was not able to create a brand new Slalom course. So, we had a framework to develop the new format and we did it in several stages... We reached the agreement to have, first of all, the head to head format in both disciplines, and to combine the athletes in all the events.”

How do you feel this will benefit the athletes?
It's a different format and frankly it depends on the policy on how the NOC selects the athletes. They have to find the best profile to fit with the two events, and that way we will develop the versatility and the capacity for the athletes to adapt to new events quickly. It's opened a window to these people, they are young they are not so specialised yet, and even if they are very specialised in Slalom it's not a big deal to try and do Sprint. We can see a benefit for them in both disciplines to share new feelings and some new competition especially with the head to head, I guess this is the great innovation. And I would say, let's have this format working once and we will see. We have done a test in France where I could see a very good event that the participants really enjoyed.

Does the format have life outside of the Youth Olympic Games?
Yes, already, because we use this format for the development programme in Asia and most probably this will be the format of the next African Games which will be hosted in Mozambique. Mozambique is not able to supply a Slalom course with whitewater, plus the African development in whitewater is not advanced enough for a traditional Canoe Slalom competition. Then we will use the Youth Olympic format, so yes it is clear it could be a good tool for development.

Tony Estanguet, reigning Canoe Slalom World Champion and our Athlete Role Model has this to say about the new Canoeing format: “it is good to have a competition that is not focused on one discipline... This will encourage exchange and a mix between the various disciplines. In the senior category, we've never had this opportunity. I think it is very good to show that Canoe Sprint and Canoe Slalom are the same sport and part of the same family.”

Australia's Jessica Fox qualified for the YOG in May. Talking at the 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Prague, Jess said “I'm really excited to see what that's like because it's not the normal Slalom event, or the Sprint...it should be fun. Canoe Sprint is not my main event but let's see how I go.”

Let us know your opinion on the format at the Youth Olympic Games. Send your comments, videos, pictures to info@canoeicf.com.