The Youth Olympics are coming to Sydney Harbour. With sailing on the program for the first time contestants in the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival will compete on a course adjacent to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Yachting Australia will apply to the NSW Government for permission to stage the racing at Farm Cove and to make it “spectator friendly”. The move has the full support of the Australian Olympic Committee.

“Imagine the thrill for the young athletes from overseas and from throughout the states of Australia to be racing in full view of the Opera House and the Bridge” said AOC President John Coates.

The AOC has invited sailors from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and New Zealand to compete next January against seven state-based teams from Australia.

Great Britain is the most successful Olympic yachting nation and will be very difficult to beat. Phil Jones, CEO of Yachting Australia today praised the introduction of sailing on to the AYOF program.

”I think the opportunity to involve our young athletes in the Youth Olympic Festival for the first time is very positive for the sport“, he said.

Yachting Australia is proposing different coloured sails with branding to allow spectators to easily identify the boats on the water.

As well as the branding on the sails Yachting Australia is proposing stickers showing flags and other emblems on the bow of the boats.

”It is a short course and given the location we expect a large number of people coming along to watch from the foreshore around the gardens and Opera House” Jones said.

The AOC is expecting over two thousand young athletes to compete over the five days from January 17 – 21 in sixteen sports.

The AOC has committed $2.7m funding to stage the event- the fourth Festival held in Australia since the Sydney Olympics. Athletes between the ages of 13-19 from 22 countries have been invited to compete. 

The AYOF is designed to prepare young athletes for the pressures of competing at the Olympic level. Jones thinks the experience of a multi-sport event run under Olympic conditions will certainly benefit the sailing athletes.

“Our research shows that the best chance of winning a medal in sailing is if you have been to the Olympics before”.

The full list of sports is as follows:
Athletics
Badminton
Canoe/Kayak – flat water & slalom
Cycling – track & road
Diving
Figure Skating
Football
Gymnastics
Hockey
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting – clay target
Speed Skating – short track 
Swimming 
Table Tennis
Taekwondo 

AOC