By Emily Goddard

Chris Hoy Glasgow 2018 posterJuly 2 - Sir Chris Hoy, Britain's most decorated Olympian, will join the Glasgow 2018 delegation as it delivers its final Youth Olympic bid presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne on Thursday (July 4).

The young people of Glasgow will also take centre stage as the Scottish city's panel heads to the IOC headquarters with the promise of "global impact for the Youth Olympic Games" – the winning bid from either Glasgow, Buenos Aires of Medellín will be announced on that same day.

Joining Sir Chris (pictured top), an eleven-time world and six-time Olympic champion cyclist, will be bid director Paul Bush, British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Sebastian Coe and 15-year-old Glasgow school pupil Elizabeth Pollard, while the presentation panel will include the bid's young champions, 18-year-old actress Jasmine Main and Scotland's number one triple jumper in his age group 17-year-old Mahad Ahmed.

Young people have played a major role in the Glasgow bid from its launch by helping to create content for the Candidature File, the Culture and Education Programme and the social media campaign, while Ahmed and Main last week launched the bid's "I Wish...for Glasgow 2018" initiative for youngsters from across Britain express their wishes for the bid.

Pollard, a pupil at Shawlands Academy – which was recently named the United Kingdom's leading international school, said: "It is so exciting for me to be representing my friends in Glasgow who I know would give the world the warmest Scottish welcome possible.

"The Youth Olympic Games in Glasgow would be a city-wide party which will be so much fun, not just for the athletes and the visitors, but for young people all over the world.

"We will all make lifelong friends."

I wish 1Jasmine Main and Mahad Ahmed launched the bid's "I Wish...for Glasgow 2018" campaign


Coe added: "Elizabeth is just one of the young people I have met in Glasgow who are examples of an increasingly confident and inspiring generation who strive to project the values of excellence, friendship and respect so cherished by the Olympic Family."

Central to the presentation's message will be the UK's ability to pledge certainty of delivery following the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Glasgow is also hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games meaning that many of the venues will already been in place to host the Youth Olympics in 2018 and should it win the bid the city will be able to start work straight away.

"Glasgow has delivered many world-class sporting events," Bush explained.

"This means we can focus, in partnership with the Olympic Movement, on inspiring youth across the world to be champions in their own lives.

"Hosting the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 would allow us to continue to inspire a generation internationally, in their own language."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
June 2013: Our proposal truly can have a global impact, says Glasgow 2018 Youth Olympics bid director
June 2013: Glasgow 2018 pledges to allow young people to deliver the Youth Olympics
June 2013: Glasgow 2018 Youth Olympic bid team unveil plans for celebration "live sites"
May 2013: Glasgow can help properly establish the Youth Olympic Games says Robertson
May 2013: Glasgow youngsters pushing for 2018 Summer Youth Olympics