SEOUL, JAN 17    :    International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024 is set to build “a new legacy” for “the next generation of athletes,” during a visit that he paid to check the preparation status for Games in the Athletes Village in Gangneung, South Korea, on Wednesday.

Bach praised the facilities of the Village: “I’m really very, very impressed by the quality of the accommodation and what I am hearing from the athletes, they are all very happy.”

With two days to go before the Opening Ceremony, The IOC chief added that all is set for a “successful Games.”

“For the athletes, I think it’s a wonderful experience to compete in the venues their idols have been competing in just six years ago and whom they are following. These young athletes are carrying this legacy on toward the next generation of athletes. So it’s a true success story,” he concluded.

Accompanied by the Chair of the Coordination Commission and 2014 Olympic speed skating champion, Zhang Hong, Bach met the first group of young athletes in the gym of the Village Sport Complex, part of the Gangneung Wonju National University.

Bach then continued his tour inside the Village, where he stopped to take pictures with mascot Moongcho and the volunteers, before visiting the Main Resident Centre and the Dining Hall.
“What for athletes is the most important is good sleep and good food and they all confirmed that the rooms are excellent, that the beds are excellent and that they’re enjoying the food very much so that there is enough variety,” Bach said.

Gangwon 2024 is the fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games, an event that – according to Bach – has represented in the past “a great stepping stone to success in the Olympic Games” and serves as evidence of “the ever-growing popularity of winter sports in Asia.”

Asia’s first Winter Youth Olympic Games will kick off on January 19, with the Opening Ceremony taking place simultaneously at the Gangneung Oval and PyeongChang Dome.(UNI)