The Bahamas has been awarded the 2017 edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games, aiming to unite 1,000 young athletes aged 14-18 in a Caribbean carnival of impactful competition, personal development and new Commonwealth friendships. The sixth edition of the games will take place from July 19-23, 2017 in New Providence, and seven sports are proposed -- aquatics (swimming), athletics (track and field), boxing, cycling (road), judo, rugby sevens and tennis. It will be the first time judo has been presented at a Commonwealth Youth Games.
As part of the Commonwealth Games Federation's (CGF) commitment to partner and support peaceful, sustainable and prosperous Commonwealth communities, it will be the second edition of the youth games to be held on a small island developing state, following the hugely successful Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in September last year. It will also be the first Commonwealth Games event to be held in the Caribbean for over 50 years, with Commonwealth athletes last participating in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.
Speaking after the CGF's Executive Board meeting in Gibraltar, CGF President Louise Martin, CBE said: "It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that the executive board of the Commonwealth Games Federation has unanimously voted to award the upcoming edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games to The Bahamas.
"The Commonwealth Youth Games are a unique and empowering opportunity to celebrate and engage young people on the leveled playing field of sport. I congratulate and commend the Bahamas Bid Committee for their passion, commitment and expertise and look forward to helping realize their dream of an impactful and inspiring games for The Bahamas, the Caribbean and the Commonwealth."
Almost all events will be held in the same sporting precinct, the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, which includes the 15,000-seat Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, host of the opening and closing ceremonies and of the athletics competition of the games. The sporting action will also reach out to the communities and streets, with the cycling competition to be held on the streets of New Providence.
With just over 500 days to go to the opening ceremony, the youth games partners with The Bahamas' plan to build on its experiences of successfully coordinating sporting events such as the 2014 and 2015 International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Relay Championships. In terms of Commonwealth events, the island of New Providence is also a former host of CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting), in 1985, and the most recent Commonwealth Education Ministers Meeting (2015).
Welcoming the announcement, Bahamas Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) Secretary General Romell K. Knowles said: "We jubilantly thank the executives and members of the Commonwealth Games Federation for the confidence placed in our country by the award of the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games to The Bahamas. We also thank the CGA of St. Lucia, who first had the vision to bring the games to the Caribbean. Additionally, The Bahamas CGA expresses enthusiastic solidarity with our Caribbean brothers and sisters in the regional Commonwealth Games associations as we
will all be hosts to our fellow athletes and officials from across the Commonwealth.
"On behalf of The Bahamas CGA President Wellington Miller, I especially thank the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie MP, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Hon. Dr. Daniel Johnson MP and Minister of Youth, Sports & Culture, and the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe MP, Minister of Tourism, for the solid executive and moral support and technical advice that they and The Bahamas administration provided during the bidding process.
"The sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games is by far the largest sporting event ever undertaken by The Bahamas as a host and we look forward to presenting the best Commonwealth Youth Games ever. Having been awarded these games, thousands of young Commonwealth athletes will now be inspired to compete in the sport of their choice in the hope of representing their country at these prestigious games. Everyone wants to come to The Bahamas."
In addition to the sporting action, the sixth Commonwealth Youth Games promises a rich, colorful and diverse cultural Commonwealth celebration.
Following the decision to award The Bahamas the games, the Commonwealth Games Association of The Bahamas and its governmental partners have been mandated to constitute an organizing committee to deliver the games coordination and begin preparations with the 71 participating nations and territories. The Commonwealth Games flag and ceremonial Quaich, the special gift that has been entrusted to each Commonwealth Youth Games host since the inaugural games in Edinburgh in 2000, will be handed over to The Bahamas at a special ceremony at the Commonwealth Games Federation's General Assembly in October later this year.
The 6th Commonwealth Youth Games is set to be the largest multi-sport event ever hosted in The Bahamas with some 1,200 young athletes and officials from 71 countries around the Commonwealth of Nations. The event is for some, like Kirani James from athletics, Chad le Clos in aquatics and Jessica Ennis-Hill (athletics), a springboard to future Commonwealth Games glory; for many, a formative first taste of international multi-sport competition; and for all, a joyous celebration of high-performance sport, personal development and new Commonwealth friendships made on the leveled playing field of sport.
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