Brașov is in a two horse race with Lausanne to host the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) flagship youth event in six years time.

But Petrache feels the Romanian city is handicapped by the critical fact that "very few people outside Europe know that Brașov is a city in Romania and even less of them know that it is actually a winter sports resort".

The city of 250,000 people is located 170 kilometres north of the capital Bucharest and hosted the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.

It is bidding to become the first Romanian city to host an Olympic Games, but faces tough opposition from Lausanne, the "home" of the Olympic Movement.

The two cities were formally accepted as Candidates for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games during the IOC Executive Board meeting on December 6, prior to the IOC Extraordinary Session in Monte Carlo.

Following the Session, Petrache said he had talked to many people involved in the Olympic Movement, only to realise that the city is Brașov is somewhat of a hidden treasure in comparison to its Swiss counterpart.

Brașov was formally accepted as a candidate for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games during an IOC Executive Board meeting in Monaco on December 6 ©Getty Images



"It is not their fault, but ours," he told insidethegames.

"It is almost like we wanted to keep a secret out of it and this is definitely not the way to go when running against Lausanne for such an important event like the Winter Youth Olympic Games.

"We are indeed, ourselves, looking up to cities like Lausanne, but, at the same time we have to learn from them how to promote our good things and how to show ourselves.

"It is about time we started showing to the world our beautiful places and traditions, the practical nature of that particular area of Brașov for the Winter Youth Olympic Games and, maybe the most important, the incredibly beautiful spirit of the people here.

"It is not as easy as it may look because we have to do all this within the tight boundaries of the Rules of Conduct established by the IOC for a fair competition, but we will give it our best shot and may the best offer win."

After being shortlisted as an official candidate for the Winter Youth Olympic Games, Brașov will now face further assessment by the IOC Evaluation Commission, chaired by China's former two-time Olympic champion speed skater Yang Yang.

Candidate city visits will be carried out in February before teleconferences on March 11 and 12 give each city the opportunity to present their plans and answer questions from the Evaluation Commission.

A decision on who will host just the third edition of the Games is then expected to be made during the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015.

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