I work as an administrator overseeing national sports policies in the Civil Service. These past few months have been exciting as I've had the fortune (or misfortune rather if work-life balance is taken into account) of being involved in Singapore 's bid to host the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG in short).
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC in short) announced the bidding process on 10 August 2007, Singapore's bidding team - which includes many sports administrators and other experts - swung into action. It was a daunting task for two reasons: first, our bid submission would have to cover multiple areas from our concept and legacy, to marketing plans, to educational programmes to engage the youth participants; and second, we had only two and a half months to complete the bid documents!
We worked at breakneck speed and managed to put together an impressive bid proposal that led Singapore to be one of the five shortlisted cities. Beyond putting together the bid proposal, we also worked hard in educating fellow Singaporeans and getting them (particularly the youth) excited about the YOG - this was a toughie as we were competing with numerous other initiatives and issues for people's attention.
At this point in writing, the IOC members will be voting shortly to pick the YOG 2010 host city. We will know by end February whether Singapore can be the IOC's preferred partner in making Olympic history as the inaugural YOG host city. On a personal note, being part of the bid team has been satisfying and I certainly hope that Singapore can win the bid, so that my family and I can watch the best youth athletes of the world compete on our sunny island in the near future. :)
Chan, Mun Wei
Director (Sports Division), Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS)
Member of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Bid Committee
Graduating class of 1981
Alumni President (2006-07)
