There is no doubt that last year’s Beijing Olympics was indeed a success. Despite the fact that Tibetans were boycotting and protesting against the staging of the world-class Olympics Games held in China’s capital, Beijing, the international sporting event had scored a great success with the support and help of the whole international Olympic family.

What’s more is that foreign leaders even congratulate the success of the Games. Israeli President Shimon Peres said that the Beijing Olympic Games is an incomparable and splendid global event and presents a glorious new China to the whole world. The Games passed the message of pace and displayed the grand picture of solidarity. He expressed confidence that the Beijing Olympic Games would become a landmark. “One World, One Dream” has got well known and the cold war mentality will be finally replaced by the warm concept of harmony. The grand sports event also put into practice the idea of “environment-friendly, technology-empowered and culture-enriched Olympics” and facilitated cultural exchanges among countries in the world.

As a 14-year-old student at that time, I have also watched several sporting events including the opening ceremony on my cable television powered by Starhub. To my surprise, the opening ceremony was really fascinating and wonderful! It combined several state-of-the-art technologies, traditional Chinese values, and of course the unique design of the Bird Nest to create an excellent impression for the rest of the world. It had caught nearly 4 billion people’s eyes worldwide and this is indeed an amazing feat accomplished by the Chinese!

Due to Singapore’s small population and land size, it is relatively impossible to stage a Summer Olympic Games here. Even though winning the bid to host the first ever Youth Olympic Games may be a peanut to many developed countries such as the United States, Australia, Germany or Japan, but as a Singaporean, I am really proud of my country to have this rare opportunity. Well, in my personal opinion, I think Singapore will achieve success in the upcoming Youth Olympic Games which will be held here in next August. Why? Here are 2 reasons.

1. Singapore as a Youth Sports Hub

Every year, the Singapore Government sets aside million of dollars to groom our local athletes especially the youth. Our niche sports includes table tennis, swimming and sailing. In the recent Asian Youth Games, we have won several gold medals all thanks to our talented athletes. Of course, we should not forget the coaches. Besides spending money to find and groom our young sportsmen or sportswomen, students like us would engage in physical activities such as football and basketball during our school curriculum. There are also many sports facilities in our vicinity so that we need not to travel far to do a workout. I believe that the close connection between the teenagers and the Youth Olympic Games will make Singapore a suitable place to hold the inaugural Youth Olympic Games held next year during the month of August.

2. Different Races & Religions Coming Together To Form A Nation

What makes Singapore different from other nations or countries is that it has a diverse community consisting of various races (Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians) and religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Catholic, Taoism, Islam, Hinduism and the list goes on). It’s rather extraordinary and amazing that we, despite our vast skin colors, have managed to form one nation and one identity. This is also known as racial harmony.

So what does racial harmony got to do with sports? Well, through sporting events or competitions, they enables these youth to come together and share their personal experiences, thoughts and opinions of anything that come to their minds. Besides that, they can exchange cultural practices with one another too, hence bonding them together.

Since most of the Youth Olympic Games participants speak different languages and probably having various religions, Singaporean youth can dexterously communicate and interact with them in 4 languages (English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil) without any much hassle. Of course, it will still be rather perplexing to have a chat with young sports enthusiasts from France and Spain whose native languages are French and Spanish respectively. But at least, collaborating with YOG participants from the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Malaysia, India wouldn’t be a problem at all.