4
The FinnishOlympic Committee aswell as all the athletes and officials on Finnish team inNanjing
are awaiting theYouthOlympic Gameswith a lot of expectations.TheYOG is a unique event for the
participating athletes andNanjing organizers have done an outstanding job preparing the event.
We firmly believe that theGameswill be a great success.
Supporting youth elite sport is one of themain tasks of the FinnishOlympic Committee. It includes
also participation at the youth sport events. Since 1991, over 1000 young Finnish athletes have
participated in the EuropeanYouthOlympic Festival (EYOF) in25 different sports. Finnish ath-
letes have also participated infirst two editions of theYOG, Singapore 2010 and Innsbruck 2012.
Altogether 61 athletes took part in these two events,winning7medals.The experience from the
participation at these events is valued very positively among the athletes andwe expect same to
be the case alsowith this edition of theYOG.
FinnishTeam comprises 14 athletes–8 boys and6 girls.Theywill compete in8 sports–aquatics,
archery, boxing, gymnastics, golf, sailing, shooting and volleyball. Formost of the athletes on the
team it is their first big international event.
Finnish athleteswill strive for victories and success. But themedals are not themain reason for
participation at thiswonderful event. Gaining experience and increasingmotivation to train even
harder to become an elite athlete iswhatmatters.
Peter Brüll
Chef deMission
Team Finland
FOREWORD
