18 October 2010 - Beijing, China

The third edition of the Lausanne Summit for Olympic cities came to a close after two days of conferences in Beijing, China. This was the first time that the event was held outside of Lausanne and attracted 33 cities from 19 different countries and 110 participants. Beijing exhibited immense hospitality and delivered a very well organised conference underlying the city as a first class venue for future events.

The objective of the conference was to support cities in using and in some cases re-activating their Olympic legacy to further develop political, social and economic projects and policies. Participants heard from the vice-chairmen of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA), Mr Liu Jingmin and Prof Jiang Xiaoyu on the cities policies which were put in place since hosting the Olympic Games in 2008 to leverage their Olympic legacy. Following the successful conclusion of the first ever Youth Olympic Games, participants heard from Dr Tan Eng Liang, Vice President of Singapore’s National Olympic Council. Other speakers included Prof Harry Hiller, Director of the Cities and Olympics Project from the University of Calgary, Prof Philippe Bovy, Honorary Professor from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and IOC Transport Expert, and Prof Eric Monnin from the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard on the use of Olympic legacy. To conclude, Dr Victor Karunan, from the United Nations challenged the audience on why should cities invest in their youth and the positive impact and opportunities the Olympics can bring to a city and its residents. The breakout sessions were a new addition to the programme adding an increased level of interaction. They came to the ultimate conclusion that if education programmes are to work they need to target youth at the youngest level, be aggressive in their approach, giving youth the feeling of accountability and responsibility, and ensuring that they are participants in the policy making process. In addition, the environment is constantly changing and policy makers must not get left behind. Finally, the Youth Olympic Games were seen as the perfect platform to launch such initiatives. However, cities should include education policies in their legacy planning which should start well before the actual event takes place.

The general assembly for the World Union of Olympic Cities (UMVO) chaired by the president, Mr Daniel Brélaz, who is also the Mayor of Lausanne, announced eight new members during 2010 bringing the total number of members to twenty five. These new cities are Amsterdam, Annecy, Atlanta, Barcelona, Durban, Mexico City, Moscow and Qingdao. Durban became the first city to join the UMVO as an invited member. In 2011, two meetings will be held, the first in April in Lausanne and the second in October in Athens.

Contact:
World Union of Olympic Cities
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www.olympiccities .org
+41 21 315 24 45

To download a PDF version of the press release, click here.