2016 Winter Youth Olympics

Lillehammer was the only city to bid for the games. The Norwegian Olympic Committee talked with Norwegian and regional authorities to investigate a bid and ultimately submitted a bid to the IOC. Upon the deadline for bidding, they were the only city to bid. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. They bid for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, but failed to become a candidate. Lake Placid, Lucerne, Zaragoza and Sofia all expressed interest in bidding but ultimately failed to submit any bids.[3][4][5][6][7][8] On 7 December 2011, the International Olympic Committee selected Lillehammer as the host city of the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.[9]

In January 2012, Siri Hatlen was appointed as head of the Lillehammer 2016 Organizing Committee.[10] At the Closing ceremony of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Lillehammer was handed the Olympic Flag.[11] Tomas Holmestad (33) is CEO of Lillehammer 2016, which holds office at Oppland Fylkeskommune. In August 2014, Lillehammer Organizing Committee counts 20 employees, and this number were expected to rise to 70-80 employees in January 2016.

Like the rest of the competition venues, Lysgårdsbakken was built ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics

Nine competition and eleven non-competition venues were used, with all except the Youth Olympic Village in Lillehammer being existing venues. The games were held in four municipalities: Lillehammer, Hamar, Gjøvik and Øyer. The former three are located nearby the lake of Mjøsa and each have about 27,000 residents, while Øyer has 5,000 residents and is located in the valley of Gudbrandsdalen. There were five competition venues in Lillehammer, two in Hamar and one in Gjøvik and Øyer.[12]

In Lillehammer, the twin ski jumping hill of Lysgårdsbakken has a spectator capacity of 35,000. Lysgårdsbakken has a hill size of 138 and a K-point of 120, while the normal hill has a hill size of 100 and a K-point of 90.[13] Birkebeineren Ski Stadium hosted cross-country skiing, biathlon and Nordic combined,[14] with the stadium itself having a capacity for 31,000 spectators during cross-country skiing and 13,500 during biathlon. In addition, spectators could watch from along the tracks.[15] Kanthaugen Freestyle Arena has a capacity for 15,000 spectators and hosted freestyle skiing and half-pipe snowboarding.[16]

Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track is located at Hunderfossen and is the only bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track in the Nordic Countries.[17] Kristins Hall hosted both ice hockey and curling.[18] Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall is located in a man-made cave and featured the short track speed skating events.[19] In Hamar, Vikingskipet hosted long track speed skating and Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre hosted figure skating.[20] Alpine skiing and slopestyle snowboarding were undertaken at Hafjell in Øyer.[21]

Lysgårdsbakken also hosted the opening ceremony. The medal ceremonies took place in the town plaza. Athletes and leader accommodation were provided at two Olympic Villages, one in Lillehammer for the Lillehammer and Øyer-based events, and one in Hamar for the Hamar and Gjøvik-based events. The Lillehammer village consisted of student apartments in combination with a hotel and apartment resort. They used Håkons Hall (who also hosted the closing ceremony) for dining. The Hamar village was Hotel Scandic Hamar.[22] In addition, there are five designated cultural venues in Lillehammer: Kulturhuset Banken, Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer University College, Maihaugen and the Nansen Academy.[23] The Main Media Centre was located at Mesna Upper Secondary School, which is adjacent to Stampesletta.[24]

All the competition venues were built ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics.[25] Kristins Hall is the only venue not used during those Games,[26] while Håkons Hall and Kvitfjell were used. During Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games, Håkonshall was the venue for the Learn & Share program, whilst Kristins Hall was the official venue for ice hockey and curling. Kvitfjell was not used, and Hafjell was the main venue for downhill skiing, snowboard, and freeskiing instead.

Also a cultural programme was a part of the event, in which for example bandy was featured.[28]

The countries listed below have qualified at least one provisional athlete. 7 countries (Colombia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Portugal and Timor Leste) made their Winter Youth Olympic Games debut.
The numbers in parentheses represents the number of participants qualified.

The top ten listed National Olympic Committees (NOCs) by number of gold medals are listed below with the host nation, Norway, being highlighted.

Medals won by teams of athletes from more than one NOC are included in the table as medals awarded to a mixed-NOCs team.

  *   Host nation (Norway)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	10	6	0	16
2	South Korea	10	3	3	16
3	Russia	7	8	9	24
4	Germany	7	7	8	22
5	Norway*	4	9	6	19
–	Mixed-NOCs	4	4	5	13
6	Switzerland	4	3	4	11
7	China	3	5	2	10
8	Canada	3	2	1	6
9	Sweden	3	2	0	5
10	Slovenia	3	0	2	5
11–28	Remaining	12	21	30	63
Totals (28 entries)		70	70	70	210

Bibliography

• Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF). "Candidate city for the Winter Youth Olympic Games: Lillehammer 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
• International Olympic Committee (IOC) (November 2011). "2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2016: Report of the IOC Evaluation Commission" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
• Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee (LOOC). "1994 Winter Olympics Report, volume III" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.

Notes

• Official website
• Results Book