Football shared its World Cup between Japan and South Korea in 2002, and ten years later its European Championship between Poland and Ukraine.

But here we are dealing only with one sport. The needs and requirements of Olympic competition have always been more complex, and the only instance of sharing to date - when the equestrian element of the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics took place in Stockholm, was necessitated by quarantine regulations.

And yet here we are, on the brink of an Olympic competition which will take place either side of a national border - albeit a border which, for the five days of the Festival, will allow free passage back and forth to all accredited persons. Another unique circumstance.

A week ago, at the marble Panathenaic Stadium in Athens which hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896, there was further history-making as, for the first time, two national delegations received the sacred sporting flame. Two flags flew alongside the Greek flag, two national anthems were played along with that of the hosts.

The Panathenaic Stadium, host to the first modern Games of 1896 and based on the ancient model, hosted a historic handover ceremony of the Olympic flame on January 18 as representatives of Austria and Liechtenstein arrived ©Getty Images


But as Philipp Groborsch, the immensely energetic EYOF 2015 chief executive, explains, the decision was taken to transfer just one Olympic Torch away from the Greek capital.

"When we went to Athens to pick up the Olympic flame in that stadium it was an unbelievable moment," he told insidethegames. "For the first time at this ceremony you had two visiting flags flying, and two national anthems played.

"Everybody watching recognised that this is a really historic moment. Now the Torch Relay is started and this Olympic flame is telling everyone that the Festival is here.

"Before the ceremony we had to think what would happen. How would we do this? Because it had never been done before.

"In the end it was decided that although two countries were there for the flame [represented by Peter Mennel, the general secretary of the Austrian Olympic Committee who is chairman of the Board for EYOF 2015, and Leo Kranz, President of the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee] there would only be one flame taken.

"There is one Olympic flame, and the message is right. We did something together with just one symbolic flame."

The Olympic flame arrives in Vorarlberg’s Hohenems - pictured from left: pilot Reinhard Flatz, EYOF Liechtenstein coordinator Robert Büchel-Thalmaier, Liechtenstein Olympic Committee President Leo Kranz, Liechtenstein Sport Minister Marlies Amann-Marxer, Mascot Alpy, Austria Olympic Committee secretary general Peter Mennel, Vorarlberg Sport Minister Bernadette Mennel, former President of Liechtenstein Skiing Federation Stefan Dürr ©EYOF2015


So does Groborsch, who was head of operations and technology for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, concur immediately with the idea that the Festival about to start will serve as a crucial model to an Olympic Movement now moving steadily towards ideas of sharing and, where possible, economising?

"Yes," he says, "I think that is 100 per cent what will happen. We are a model. And I think what we are doing here is exactly in tune with the IOC Agenda 2020.

"We are expecting a lot of observers from the IOC. People from the IOC have lots of questions for us, not only about how it is possible for two countries to share such an event like this, but also how we handle the budget.

"We have learned some lessons from holding the Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck three years ago. The budget there was €23.7 million (£17.7 million/$27.6 million). But for the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival we are using just €6.5 million (£4.9 million/$7.3 million). Which is a little bit less than for Sochi 2014.

"We are only a small organising committee, 24 people. But we have a very good knowledge of the facilities available, and we have used ones which are already existing.

"We are in line again with the Agenda 2020 because we are reducing the cost by using existing facilities and infrastructure.

"We are not building any expensive athletes' villages.

"The National Olympic Committees have come and they think it is fantastic. When you talk about putting on sporting events, if you want to achieve 100 per cent, it is the last 10 per cent that really costs a lot of money.

"But if you have 90 per cent, and the NOCs are happy, that is a great solution. Why spend more?"

Philipp Groborsch, chief executive for the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival 2015, says the event will serve as a model to the Olympic Movement of how events can be shared between countries ©EYOF2015


But sharing an Olympic event means compromising - and as Mennel confirmed to insidethegames last October, there were concerns among visiting NOCs about journey times between the two countries.

The original estimated journey times from Vorarlberg's Montafon Valley and the neighbouring towns of Schruns and Tschagguns, where all accredited personnel are staying, and Malbun and Steg in Liechtenstein, which is hosting the Alpine and cross-country skiing, ranged from one hour, 30 minutes to two hours, 15 minutes.

But as Groborsch explains, the historic border agreement has dramatically reduced those estimates.

"We have some difficulties with the travel time between the two main sites, because everyone will stay in Vorarlberg," he said.

"So we are trying something new for a sporting event - at a designated point on the border between the two countries there will be no controls for accredited personnel.

"Imagine how difficult it would be if you had to take skis through customs every time you wanted to go from where you lived to your competition site across the border.

"Before we had this decision we had to think - How can we handle this? How many people are going to be moving back and forth across the border? And we realised it would be an unbelievable amount, so we needed this solution to make the Festival work.

"But now because of this arrangement for the five days of the Festival, and also the dedicated bus lanes we have put in place, the journey time will be around an hour.

"This shows sport can do something special. We said, 'Let's do something together.' This is sport bringing governments together. For five days, the two countries will grow together into one.

"This is what a sports event can do - it is bringing Governments together.

"Still, for an athlete, travelling two hours a day is not the best situation. But it is like it is. We can't change the fact that the Festival is being shared by two countries, and you do not have one country inside another."

One large benefit to the infrastructure was being built anyway - the state-of-the-slopes ski jumping facility at Tschagguns, with four parallel jumping hills of various lengths and an accompanying Nordic combined course.

The state-of-the-art ski jump facility at Tschagguns in Austria's Montafon Valley is ready for sporting action ©EYOF2015


But Groborsch reveals that, although there was an expectation that the facilities would be completed in time for the Festival, organisers were ready to face the prospect of simply having to go without.

"The cost was around €15 million (£11 million/$17 million) - but that was never part of our budget," he said. "It was put together by the Montalbon region.

"We asked them if they could be ready with the facility for the Youth Festival, and they said they would. If it had not been built in time we were ready to say we can't do ski jump and Nordic combined. But now it is there and it is fantastic.

"The ski jump is something really special. It was planned in 2010 as part of the legacy for the region, to encourage more ski jumpers to come to this area. It is perfect for use as a training school. There is not so much interest in using it for World Cup events - it has been built with clubs in mind. Because there is a range of runs, the club jumpers can train and the coaches can also train the young ski jumpers.

"It is already very popular. As we speak it has been open for 128 days, and there has been jumping there on all but nine days. "

Snow is due to have been laid on the landing area this weekend for training runs, with male jumpers using the 108-metre hill, and the women using the 66m version.

When the first cross-border bid in Olympic history was given the nod at the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Belgrade in November 2010, one of the factors which engendered confidence in the proposal was the fact that both Austria and Liechtenstein are extremely experienced in hosting international and national sporting competitions.

At that time, Liechtenstein had already taken on the responsibility of hosting the Games of the Small States of Europe for a second time, staging them in 2011. And Austria, with Groborsch playing a dynamic part, organised the first edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in January 2012.

Other sport events had been undertaken jointly in the past between Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein.

The EYOF 2015 organising committee has followed through with its policy of using existing resources by commissioning students from either side of the border to add their input to the presentation of the Festival.

"We thought - we need a slogan, and an anthem, and medals, and a mascot," says Groborsch. "But there are only 24 of us on the organising committee and we have so much to do. So how can we do this?

"We have turned to the students and pupils to give us their ideas. Sometimes when you see students getting involved like this in sporting events, you see the organisers  saying  'we have your thoughts now, but maybe we can do something better.' This is what we have not done. Around 1,600 students got involved, and their ideas and designs are exactly what you will see."

The design of the EYOF 2015 mascot, Alpy the marmot, the winners' podium and medals, and the Olympic Torch, together with the Torch Relay, were designed and planned by students from Vorarlberg.

The Olympic Torch reaches the host city of Schruns ©EYOF2015


Schools in both countries are engaged in the fields of catering and IT-support, as part of the "school sport and fan challenge" and "adopt-a-nation" initiatives. And the Festival's slogan was also devised by young minds - Rock The Alps.

"We managed to reach our ambitious goal to involve closely the local youth in the event," said Bernadette Mennel, Vorarlberg's Minister for Sport.

The student interaction is all part of a larger effort to engage the people of the region, on either side of the border, with this Olympic gathering.

The flags are out in Vorarlberg to welcome the Olympic Flame ahead of the Opening Ceremony ©EYOF2015



"Liechtenstein has a population of only 36,000 people, which is a third of that of Innsbruck," says Groborsch. "But in Alpine and cross-country skiing they will have two very big events within the Festival.

"We have had an unbelievable response in terms of countries coming to the Festival. Out of 49 eligible European nations, 45 are here to compete. It shows the attraction of this part of the world. People like coming to Austria and Liechtenstein, where there is such great food and drink, and the attraction of the Alps."

The Montafon Alpine valley is 39 kilometres long, stretching from Bludenz to the Silvretta glaciers. And Piz Buin is one of the most attractive and extensive ski regions of the Alps.

Athletes, team officials and many others will be accommodated in the host city Schruns-Tschagguns in the Montafon valley.

As the Montafon region is one of the biggest tourist regions throughout Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein, accommodation is being provided on basis of existing hotels, guest houses and/or private rooms. So NOCs will be spread out in Schruns-Tschagguns and also in other villages of Montafon.

"We will have just over 900 competitors, and in total around 5,000 accredited people at the Festival, including volunteers, coaches and VIPS," Groborsch adds.

"I think this is a perfect figure because all the rooms in the valley are sold out. There are no extra rooms now between January 24-30.

"We want to make sure the people of the regions enjoy the Festival. While there will be a sporting event at the centre of it, we are also arranging music festivals and cultural activities. We want local people to have happy memories of this whole event."

Local people - and members of the IOC...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play - the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.