The resort in Finland previously held the event for athletes aged 14 to 18 in 2001, when it took place under the name of the European Youth Olympic Days.

Salonen said at today's media conference that the Winter EYOF represented an important opportunity to showcase the Kainuu region of Finland.

"It's important for Finland to organise big events," he argued.

"We have systematically in individual sports through our National Federations organised World Championships, European Championships, all big events, and then this is now fourth time ever when a multi-sport event under the Olympic Rings is organised in Finland.

"You all remember 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, and then 20 years ago the same competition was here in Vuokatti, and then [in] 2009 we organised the summer edition [of the EYOF] in Tampere, so this is now the fourth time Finland is organising an Olympic family event.

"So definitely this is very rare, this is very unique, this important for us not just for the sports but for the whole society and especially for Kainuu region, which is known as you can see everywhere for beautiful nature, and people are real fans of sports here, so this is important for all of us."

While Vuokatti is the main venue for the Festival, ice hockey matches are being held in Kajaani to the west, while Lahti in southern Finland is the venue for Nordic combined and ski jumping events.

Salonen said he believed "the direction should be for combined Games", citing a Stockholm-Åre bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics as an "excellent example".

The Swedish proposal including hosting sliding events in Latvia, although they lost out in the bidding race to Milan-Cortina.

The Finnish Olympic Committee official argued that the Stockholm-Åre bid "should have won that competition for 2026 because that then would have made it easier for other small countries together with some other countries to apply to bid for the Games".

"Think about this Youth Olympic Festival," Salonen reflected.

"We are okay within the same country, but we are dividing the Games, so ski jumping and Nordic combined are organised in the city of Lahti.

"The distance between the city of Lahti and Vuokatti today where these competitions are held is exactly the same as between let's say Latvia and the sliding centre there and the winter sports venues in Finland, so it's just rethinking the concept as such.

"The Milan-Cortina Games, they are the same as the triangle between Sweden, Latvia and winter sports venues in southern Finland."

Salonen added that any potential future bid from Finland to stage the Winter Olympics would require a co-host.

"Finland, our Olympic Committee together with the Finnish Ministry of Sport, did a study three years ago about the possibilities, what it means to apply nowadays for the Olympic Games, and its results were very clear - Finland alone can't organise the Summer Games, they are just too big," he said.

"When it comes to the Winter Olympics, yes under certain conditions Finland can meet the requirements, and the certain conditions are regarding the venues, so if we are to apply to bid for the Winter Olympics, we would need a partner for downhill skiing and sliding sports."