November 28 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced Romanian city of Brașov and Lausanne in Switzerland have met today’s deadline for submitting bids to host 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. The IOC announced that it was inviting bids for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in June of this year and while Lausanne had declared its intention to bid early on, Brasov’s interest has come unexpectedly. Bulgarian capital Sofia and Lake Placid in New York had been mooted as potential bidders but their interest has not led to any concrete bid.
Neither Brașov nor Lausanne have ever hosted a major Olympic event before, although the Swiss city, known as the “Olympic capital”, is no stranger to the Movement as it is where the IOC headquarters are based, along with 60 international sporting federations. Lausanne officials had intimated that they were considering a bid for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics as far back as 2010 and that interest was further cemented after the city successfully hosted the World Gymnaestrada in 2011. Earlier this year, Brașov – located in the east of Romania – hosted the 11th edition of the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. more
