End clap on the 2024 Winter Youth Games in Gangwon, South Korea. The Olympic event reserved for athletes aged 14 to 18 ended Thursday February 1 as it had started two weeks earlier, with a very good-natured ceremony (photo above), where Thomas Bach shared the spotlight with K-pop artists.
Placed under the sign of heritage, with competitions organized in seven of the twelve sites of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games, the South Korean meeting kept its promises. “ A tremendous demonstration of the tangible and intangible legacy of the PyeongChang 2018 Games, which were a great success,” summarized Thomas Bach in his closing speech Thursday evening in Gangneung. All is said.
In fourteen days of competition, Gangwon brought together 1802 athletes from 78 countries. The event offered 81 medal sessions, in the 15 sports of the program. As the flame goes out, virtual for the first time at the Games, what should we remember?
No less than 32 countries appear in the medal rankings. The United States leads the way for the number of places on the podium, with 21 medals, including five gold. A first at the Winter Youth Games. And the prospect of seeing the Americans crush the competition at home, in ten years, at the Salt Lake City 2034 Winter Games. But Team USA is well ahead of Italy in the number of victories. The Italians won 11 titles, for a total of 18 places on the podium. As in athletics at the Tokyo 2020 Games (five medals, all gold), they displayed a staggering success rate when it came time to take stock.
Gangwon 2024 revealed to the world a new generation of winter sports stars, whose most gifted specimens could already make a name for themselves at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games. Let us cite the Dutch Angel Daleman, 16 years old, medalist in the four speed skating events, titled in 500 m, 1500 m and mass start; the Japanese Mao Shimada, far above the rest in the women's figure skating competition, finished with a total of 196,99 points, more than five points more than her closest rival; the Italian Flora Tabanelli, already announced as the worthy heir to the Chinese Eileen Gu, thanks to her victories in slopestyle and big air; British alpine skier Zak Carrick-Smith, crowned in combined and slalom, silver medalist in giant; the South Korean Lee Chaeun, elevated to the rank of local hero by his two gold medals in snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle.
In South Korea, the 2024 Winter YOG has hit its target. The opening ceremony, Friday January 19, was followed live on the channel KBS1 by more than four million Koreans. On the evening of Sunday January 28, nearly 30% of Koreans had already followed part of the Games on SBS, KBS et MBC. A survey also showed that 75% of Koreans knew that the Gangwon 2024 YOG was taking place, and that more than 80% of them were in favor of it. In total, more than 270.000 spectators attended the events, plus around 230.000 people present at the winter festival Let’s Play, a mix of sporting and cultural activities offered in Gangneung alongside the YOG.
Last lesson of the event: the IOC continues to play with the calendar without refraining from twisting it in all directions. On Thursday February 1, the closing ceremony of the YOG Gangwon 2024 ended without the traditional handover of the Olympic flag to the next organizers. And for good reason: they have not yet been designated.
Thomas Bach explained it a few hours earlier at a press conference: the award of the 2028 Winter Youth Games is not happening right away. “ You can expect an announcement to be made later this year, or at the latest early next year, on the location of the next Winter Youth Olympic Games, he told the media. Our responsible commission needs a little more time to evaluate the different projects and reach a conclusion on the most suitable destination for 2028"
The Italian regions of Lombardy and Trento have declared themselves candidates, with the desire to follow the South Korean example by organizing the YOG as a legacy of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Games. But Christophe Dubi, the director of the Olympic Games at the IOC, entrusted it to FrancsJeux : the Italians are not alone in the race.
