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Youth Olympics Underway in Buenos Aires
October 7, 2018 The Youth Olympics have begun in Buenos Aires. 
A youth-focused variant of the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympics take place every four years and feature competitions in 28 sports, some of which are not found in the "adult" Olympics. The Summer Youth Olympic Games take place during a 12-day period, and the Winter Youth Olympic Games take place during a 10-day period. All athletes are between the ages of 15 and 18. At this year's Games, a total of 4,000 athletes–2,000 girls and 2,000 boys–are competing in 239 events across 32 sports and 36 disciplines. A total of 1,250 medals will be awarded.
The 2018 Youth Olympic Games mascot is #Pandi, a young jaguar. The name combines the scientific name of the jaguar, "panthera onca," and the term "digital," with the hashtag thrown in to emphasize the digital world in which much of today's youths are familiar. Four sports debuted at this year's Youth Olympics: dance sport, karate, roller sports, and sport climbing. The other sports on offer are these:
Making their debut as disciplines are Beach handball, BMX freestyle, and kiteboarding. Contests are taking place in 29 venues in Green Park, Tecnopolis Park, Urban Park, and Youth Olympic Park. 
An Olympic Torch Relay, after the tradition torch-lighting ceremony in Athens, began in July 2018 in La Plata, the capital of the province in Buenos Aires. For 60 days, a procession of torchbearers carried the flame more than 8,000 miles across Argentina, passing through most major cities and by many famous places, before ending up at the Youth Olympics stadium in Buenos Aires. The Youth Olympics is a relatively new concept. The first Youth Summer Olympics took place in Singapore in 2010, and the first Winter Games were in Innsbruck, Austria, two years later. The second Summer Games were in Nanjing, China, in 2014, and the second Winter Games took place in Lillehammer, Norway, in 2016. Lausanne, France, will be the setting for the next Youth Winter Olympics, in 2020. The Youth Summer Games will next take place in Senegal. A key component of Youth Olympics events is a Culture and Education Program, which fosters cooperation among athletes. Also featured is the Young Ambassadors Program and the Young Reporters Program, offering non-athletes opportunities to promote and cover, respectively, the Youth Games. The Buenos Aires Youth Olympics run October 6–18. |
Social Studies for Kids |
Social Studies for Kids
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David White
