The International Olympic Committee's  (IOC) ruling Executive Board approved the sports programme for the Games, which will feature 3,594 athletes

 

in 26 sports comprising 201 events.

 

The number of sports in the programme is identical to the London 2012 programme.

 

Each event has its own age group competing, either 15-16 (27 events), 16-17 (111 events) or 17-18 (63 events).

 

Among the changes, however, will be the halfcourt 3-on-3 basketball format and mixed-gender or mixed-team events in numerous sports, including athletics and cycling.

 

The programme includes mixed relays in swimming and modern pentathlon.

 

To ensure broad participation, each of the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOC) will be guaranteed spots for at least four athletes.

 

The four team sports - football, handball, hockey and volleyball - will consist of one national team per continent as well as a sixth team which will either represent the NOC of the host country or be proposed by the international federation for IOC approval.

 

An NOC will be allowed to have no more than one boys’ and one girls’ team competing for all four team sports.

In addition, and irrespective of the number of athletes qualified, an NOC delegation may include no more than 70 athletes in individual sports.

 

Besides the sports competitions programme, the Youth Olympic Games will feature an extensive Cultural and Educational Programme (CEP), which aims to introduce, in a fun and festive spirit, the young athletes to Olympism and the Olympic values, and to raise awareness on important issues such as the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, the fight against doping and their role as sports ambassadors in their communities.

 

As a result of close collaboration between the IOC and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC), an innovative and attractive CEP has been developed, with SYOGOC looking to finalise it shortly and start implementation at the beginning of next year, the IOC claimed.

 

The host for the first Youth Winter Olympics in 2012 will be announced Friday.

 

The candidates are Innsbruck, Austria, and Kuopio, Finland.

 

The Youth Olympics are a personal project of IOC president Jacques Rogge in his mission to fight obesity and encourage young people to take part in sports.