Singapore announces YOG torch relay plan
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The Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (SYOGOC) announced on Wednesday the route for the torch relay of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games(YOG).
The six-day event will be attended by 2,400 torchbearers, covering a distance of 305 kilometers - equivalent to travelling the entire length of the island six times.
The Singapore leg of the Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame will be held from August 7 to 13 (with a break on 9 August), passing through housing estates, parks, schools, historic sites, places of interests and Singapore's financial and civic districts. Some 300,000 people are expected to line the streets and cheer for the event.
Starting in July 2010, the Youth Olympic Flame will be lit in Greece, and then journey to Berlin (Germany), Dakar (Senegal), Mexico City (Mexico), Auckland (New Zealand) and Seoul (South Korea) before it arrives in Singapore.
Meanwhile, local media reported on Wednesday that the budget for the inaugural YOG has surpassed original estimates of 75 million U.S. dollars by more than three times. The projected government spending for the 13-day Games in August will now be approximately 279 million U.S. dollars.
Singapore will be hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games from August 14 to 26. The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games will receive some 5,000 athletes and officials from the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), along with an estimated 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers, and more than 370,000 spectators. Young athletes - aged between 14 and 18 years - will compete in 26 sports and take part in the Culture and Education Program.
