INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION

Communication No. 1674
WINTER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES (YOG)
INNSBRUCK/AUSTRIA JANUARY 13-22, 2012
GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Introduction
After the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City on July 5th, 2007 where the IOC Members
approved the project that foresees the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and the 1st
Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012, the ISU immediately started working on this project.
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) consists of a summer and a winter edition which will takeplace every four years respectively.
The YOG are the flagship of the IOC’s strategy outlined for young Athletes.

2. Fundamental IOC principles:• Vision:
The Youth Olympic Games will inspire young people around the world to participate
in sport and adopt and live the Olympic values.
• Mission:
Create an event to educate, engage and influence young Athletes inspiring them toplay an active role in their communities.
• Definition:
The Youth Olympic Games are multi-sport, cultural, educational events for youngpeople, driven by young people and within the Olympic Movement, a catalyst forsporting, education and cultural initiatives for young people.

3. General Information
The Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Innsbruck 2012 will be held from January 13-22,2012.
The ISU disciplines will take place in the Olympia World Complex which includes an ice rink
(30x60m) and a 400m outdoor Oval for Speed Skating. Short Track Speed Skating and Figure
Skating will be held in a stadium with a total number of approximately 3000 spectator seats.
One practice ice rink at the infield of the Oval will be shared with the International Ice
Hockey Federation (IIHF) for Ice Hockey competitions and training and a coordination1

meeting was already held to set time-frames and specific needs. The IIHF will also use
another additional ice rink inside the same sports complex for training and competitions.
• Number of participants and age limits
A total of 164 Skaters will participate in ISU disciplines as follows: 76 Skaters for
Figure Skating, 56 Skaters for Speed Skating and 36 Skaters for Short Track Speed
Skating.
The age limits for all disciplines are as follows with a small exception for the male
Skaters in Pair Skating and Ice Dance:
All disciplines:
15-16.years (Born between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 1997);
For male Skaters in Pair Skating and Ice Dance:
15-18.years (Born between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1997).
• The events include:o Figure Skating
Ladies, Men, Pair Skating, Ice Dance and Mixed Team Event;o Short Track Speed Skating
500m, 1000m and Mixed Relay;o Speed Skating
2x500m, 1500m, 3000m and Mass Start.
All the competitions will be held in accordance with the 2010 version of the ISU Regulations
and relevant ISU Communications.
Following the IOC suggestions, besides the traditional competitions, the ISU decided toinclude a Mixed Team Event in Figure Skating, a completely new Mixed Relay in Short
Track Speed Skating and a Mass Start event in Speed Skating, which was warmly welcomed
and approved by the IOC Executive Board.
The Mixed Relay in Short Track Speed Skating (Mixed gender and mixed NOCs/MemberRelay) is a unique format where young female and male Athletes coming from different
NOCs/Members will compete together increasing the friendships and relationship between
Athletes which is part of the IOC vision.
Eight Relay Teams will be composed of two (2) Men and two (2) Ladies each coming fromdifferent NOCs/Members. No substitutes are allowed.
The composition of each Relay Team is based on the sum of points of the individual results
and is made up by the Competitors Steward with the purpose to form well balanced Relay
Teams. The colour difference of the single teams is still to be defined. The distance of theRelay will be 3000 meters. The sequence of skating in the Relay Teams shall be Ladies, Men,Ladies, Men.
Semi-Finals and the Final B and Final A will be skated in order to determine the Winner andranking order of the teams.
For Figure Skating the Team Trophy is a mixed NOCs/Member team event, consisting ofeight (8) mixed NOC/Member Teams. The Teams will be composed by draw out of the fourindividual events. Each Skater/Couple performs a Free Skating/Free Dance program only.
The YOG Qualification System (QS) will determine how the teams will be composed. Points
will be awarded for each place in each event according to the individual placement of the2Skaters (1st place - 8 points through 8th place - 1 point). The team with the highest number ofpoints will place first. Tie rules are determined in the QS.
For Speed Skating the participation will be as follows:
14 Men / 14 Ladies in 500m (skated twice);
14 Men / 14 Ladies in 1500m;
14 Men / 14 Ladies in 3000m;
28 Men / 28 Ladies in Mass start event (12 laps Men - 8 laps Ladies).
Skaters may participate in a maximum of 2 distances, providing that the applicable qualifying
times have been achieved during the period preceding the YOG (July 1st 2011) and thedeadline for entry for the YOG. The applicable qualifying time standards and conditions forapproval will be announced in an ISU Communication preceding July 1st 2011.
All Skaters may participate in the Mass Start event.
Specific details can be found in the Qualification System document posted on the ISUwebsite.

4. Qualification process and criteria
These qualification procedures were deeply discussed with the different ISU bodies andapproved by the IOC Executive Board in December 2009 and have been communicated by
the IOC to the NOCs and have been posted on the ISU website.
The ISU Junior World Championships 2011 represented the qualification opportunity for thethree ISU disciplines, but for Speed Skating and Figure Skating an additional qualification
opportunity is given through the specific ISU Junior circuits. These are the following:
ISU Junior World Cup Speed Skating:• November 12-13, 2011 Erfurt (GER)• November 18-19, 2011 Bjugn (NOR).
ISU Junior Grand Prix Figure Skating:• August 31-September 4, 2011
• September 7-11, 2011
• September 14-18, 2011
• September 21-25, 2011
• September 28-October 2 2011
• October 5-9, 2011
• October 12-16, 2011

Riga
BrisbaneGdanskBrasov
Innsbruck
Milan
Tallinn.

The approved YOG Qualification System documents are posted on the ISU website at the
YOG Games link.

5. Program3

The Figure Skating Program (except team event) is composed of a Short and Free Program.
In Short Track Speed Skating an All Final Program will be skated with A, B, C and D Finals
in each single distance. A and B Finals only will be skated for the Mixed Relay event.
The Mass Start event in Speed Skating is open to all the Men and Ladies Speed Skaters
attending the YOG with 8 laps for Ladies and 12 laps for Men. All the Men Skaters start
together at the same time and the first to complete the distance will be the winner. The same
applies for the Ladies. Only the inner lane will be used for the mass start races.

6. YOG Quota Places/Entries
NOCs will be responsible for the entries of their Skaters, but all participating Skaters must bemembers of an ISU Member.
Summary of the qualifying/entry process is included in the Qualification System document
posted on the ISU website which in essence is as follows:o Figure SkatingTwelve (12) YOG Quota Places/entries for Ladies and Men, seven (7) for Pair
Skating and nine (9) for Ice Dance will be determined through the ranking order of
the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2011. The medalist
NOCs/Members (ranked 1 to 3) will have two (2) YOG Quota Places/entries in therespective discipline (Ladies, Men, Pair Skating and Ice Dance), all other qualified
NOCs/Members will have one (1) YOG Quota Place/entry for the respectivediscipline.
The remaining YOG Quota Places/entries available (four (4) for Ladies and Men,three (3) for Pair Skating and three (3) for Ice Dance), will be filled by theNOCs/Members in order of their placements at the ISU Junior Grand Prix ofFigure Skating of the 2011/12 season (August through October 2011).
NOCs/Members already having earned YOG Quota Places/entries in a discipline
through the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2011 cannot earn an
additional YOG/Quota Place/entry in such discipline. No Member/NOC, except
the medalist Members at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2011,
can enter more than one (1) Skater/Couple in each discipline.
The Host Country NOC may enter minimum 1 Lady, 1 Man, 1 Pair Skating couple
and 1 Ice Dance Couple.
o Short Track Speed Skating
YOG Quota Places are assigned based on the order of placement in the overall
final classification at the World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships
2011. In the case of a tie the best placement in one of the distances will be used.
The top 3 Members\NOCs ranked in the overall final results at the ISU World
Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2011 may enter two (2) Skaters.
Next best ranked Members\NOCs may enter 1 Skater until the overall YOG Quota
is reached. If the total number of Skaters cannot be filled, NOCs/Members ranked
4th and lower may enter a second Skater until the total of 16 Skaters is reached.
4The Mixed Relay event will be open to all entered Skaters.
The Host Country NOC may enter minimum 1 Lady and 1 Man.
o Speed Skating
1 Skater per distance per NOC/Member (Top 6 NOCs/Members ranked over500m, 1500m and allround at the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships2011) may be entered. In case that a NOC/Member has more than 1 Skater
represented in the Top 6, one additional YOG Quota Place (up to a maximum oftwo (2) YOG Quota Places) is earned.
Remaining YOG Quota Places will be allocated through the 2 designated JuniorWorld Cup Competitions in the order of ranking over 500 meters, 1500 meters and3000 meters for all NOCs/Members not yet qualified.
The Host Country NOC may enter minimum 1 Lady and 1 Man subject toachievement of qualifying times.
The maximum YOG Quota Places per NOC/Member are 4 (2 Ladies/2 Men).
An ISU Communication summarizing the status of the earned YOG Quota Places based on
the results of the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2011, the ISU World
Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2011 and ISU World Junior Speed SkatingChampionships 2011 is under preparation and will be released shortly. This Communicationwill also include the specific deadlines to confirm earned YOG Quota Places as well as thetime line for the actual entries by number and entries by name.

7. Officials
The following (preferably) young and qualified ISU Officials will officiate:• Speed Skating: 4 Referees and 2 Starters;• Short Track Speed Skating: 1 Referee, 2 Assistant Referees, 1 Assistant Referee
Video, 2 Starters and 1 Competitors Stewart;• Figure Skating: 4 Referees, 18 Judges for Single and Pair Skating, 9 Judges for Ice
Dance, 3 Technical Controllers, 3 Technical Specialists, 3 Assistant TechnicalSpecialists and 2 Data/Replay Operators.

8. Competition - Training schedule
The competition and training schedule will include sufficient training opportunities for all
disciplines. Competition starting times are set to guarantee the best possible ice conditions on
the outdoor oval for Speed Skating and public attendance for Figure Skating and Short TrackSpeed Skating. Minor changes might be requested by the Organizing Committee for specificneeds. For the first time Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating will compete together
in the team events however keeping separate and distinctive results. This will help to further
increase the interest of young spectators in different ice sport disciplines.

510. Logistical Information (Arrival, accommodation, accreditation and transportation)
Skaters participating in the YOG should arrive in time for the Opening Ceremony and muststay until the Closing Ceremony.
Details about arrival dates as well as accommodation, transportation and accreditation
possibilities will be forwarded through the respective NOCs in due time. Airport
transportation as well as NOC vehicles, rate cards, access and or parking permits for vehicles
is under planning and will be communicated by YOGOC through the respective NOCs.
For further queries please consult the YOG2012 Official Website at:www.innsbruck2012.com and/or the ISU website www.isu.org.

Milan,

Ottavio Cinquanta, President
May 9, 2011

Lausanne,
6Fredi Schmid, Director General