Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By Duncan Mackay

June 12 - Hobart could be set to launch a bid for the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics, if plans proposed by the Hobart Organising Group for Major Events (HOGME) are given the go-ahead.

The group have shifted their focus to the Youth Games after their plans to try to bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics received little support from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) or the Tasmanian Government.

Their plans included building a 100,000-seat stadium named after champion woodchopper David Foster, as well as honouring champion cricketers with a [David] Boon Centre and a [Ricky] Ponting Dome.

Ben Waterworth, the President of the HOGME, claimed that they had decided to bid for the Youth Olympics because they offered a more realistic target.

"Obviously our campaign to bring the Olympics to Hobart in 2020 faced some challenges along the way," he said.

"We now hope that by campaigning for the Youth Olympics it creates an even more realistic hope of bringing the greatest show on earth to our great city."

The inaugural Summer Youth Olympics were held in Singapore last year when more than 3,500 athletes from 205 countries competed in 201 events in 26 sports.

The Winter Youth Olympics is due to debut in Innsbruck in January 2012.

The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics are scheduled to be held in Nanjing.

But the plan to bid for the Youth Olympics has not created any more enthusiasm than the original proposal to launch a campaign for the 2020 Olympics did.·

"While I admire the enthusiasm and passion of Mr Waterworth, the State Government is not currently in a position to commit the level of funding required to support a bid to host a Youth Olympic Games in Tasmania," said Michelle O'Byrne, Tasmania's Sports Minister.

The International Olympic Committee are not due to award the 2022 Games until 2018.

Contact the writer of this story at duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz