The British Olympic Association announced today 24 young athletes from 10 winter Olympic disciplines selected to compete for Team GB at the first winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), which takes place in Innsbruck, Austria, from 13-22 January 2012.
The Team GB delegation will be led by Chef de Mission Sir Clive Woodward and the event will see Team GB’s athletes, aged 14-18, compete alongside over 1,000 of the best young winter sport athletes from around the world in all seven sports on the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games programme.
The Team GB squad includes 16-year-old freestyle skier Katie Summerhayes who will contest the ski half-pipe event, which is a new addition to the Olympic Programme and will make its full Olympic debut in Sochi in 2014. Summerhayes competed at the 2011 FIS World Championships in the USA, where she finished 11th in slopestyle and 14th in halfpipe. Summerhayes has also competed at the X Games.
There is a familiar name included in the curling squad - Thomas Muirhead, younger brother of Eve, the four-time junior World and current senior European Champion and Team GB Olympian. Eve will be present in Innsbruck herself after being appointed as an Athlete Role Model for the sport of curling by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The mixed gender curling team will be skipped by Duncan Menzies.
All six of the bobsleigh athletes selected have already gained senior experience competing for Great Britain at Euopa Cup level, while Jazmin Sawyers has previously represented Great Britain at athletics, including winning a medal at the Youth Commonwealth Games earlier this year.
Cross-country skier Scott Dixon is the son of six-time Olympian Mike Dixon, who will perform the role of Team Leader for biathlon, where Team GB will be represented by Calum Irvine. Both Dixon and Irvine gained their first taste of Youth Olympic competition as members of Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Festival in the Czech Republic earlier this year.
In creating the Youth Olympic Games, the IOC aims to inspire young people around the world to participate in sport and to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.
The YOG will provide a balance between sport, education and culture. In addition to participating in their sport competitions, athletes will also take part in a Culture and Education Programme (CEP) – which includes a variety of activities focused on five themes: Olympism, Skills Development, Well-being and Healthy Lifestyle, Social Responsibility and Expression.
The competition format at the Youth Olympic Games sees a number of mixed gender and mixed nation competitions taking place in some sports, while Team GB’s two ice hockey competitors will take part in a unique individual skills challenge.
With exactly one month to go until the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural winter Youth Olympic Games, Team GB Chef de Mission Sir Clive Woodward said:
Commenting on their selection to Team GB:
Katie Summerhayes, freestyle skiing, said:
Duncan Menzies, curling, said:
Thomas Muirhead, curling, said:
Frances Slater, bobsleigh, said:
Mica McNeil, bobsleigh, said:
Olly Biddulph, bobsleigh, said:
Jazmin Sawyers, bobsleigh, said:
Tyler Harding, freestyle skiing, said:
Calum Irvine, biathlon, said:
Katherine Gale, ice hockey, said:
Lewis Hook, ice hockey, said:
The athletes selected to Team GB for the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games are:
Snowboarding - Lewis Courtier-Jones - Coventry