National Olympic Committee of Switzerland

Ittigen, 9th July 2014: Swiss Olympic has selected 19 young hopefuls from ten sports to take part in the upcoming Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG). This second edition of the YOG – the first was held in 2010 – will be taking place from 16th to 28th August 2014 in Nanjing (China) with a total of around 3,600 young athletes from 200 countries competing in 28 different sports. For Swiss Olympic, the YOG are an important stage for the career of rising athletes.

The Swiss delegation will include 19 young talents aged 14 to 18 representing ten sport disciplines: athletics, beach volleyball, golf, artistic gymnastics, swimming, diving, tennis, table tennis, archery and shooting. Most of them will be representing Switzerland for the first time in an international sports event. Chef de Mission Isabelle Bossi underlines that «it is important for the future career of the next generation of athletes that they get an experience in the Olympic Games and learn to give their all out at just the right moment. The Youth Olympic Games are a crucial stage in the training process provided by Swiss Olympic to young hopefuls as well as to their coaches». As a result, out of the 22 athletes who competed in the YOG 2010, six were selected two years later for the London Olympic Games.

Besides, each delegation is accompanied by a « Young Ambassador ». For Switzerland, this honour now falls on Lisa Gisler from the city of Solothurn, a 20-year old champion who won the gold in Curling at the first Winter YOG in Innsbruck two years ago. Drawing on her experience, Lisa Gisler’s role is to motivate the young athletes to make efficient use of their time in Nanjing also during leisure periods and to continue living up to Olympic values when they return to Switzerland.

For further information on Swiss Olympic’s website