European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a multi-sport event, held every two years. It is an event which is held for youth athletes from the 48 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. We at Ancient Olympic Games has brought you the general information about European Youth Olympic Festival and other major international competitions.
The first European Youth Olympic Festival or EYOF was held in 1991 named under European Youth Olympic Days. The idea for the first time was proposed by the renowned Jacques Rogge, who is the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the recent period. Rogge’s concept was supported above all by the EOC, and in 1991 Brussels was the first to host the potential Olympians in summer sports such as, athletics, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, swimming, table tennis, football, hockey, judo.
After the achievement of the first session, two years later the winter version of the European Youth Olympic Festival Winter was also held. Since the period onwards, the event occurs both in summer and winter sports every two (odd) years! The European Youth Olympic Festival was proposed with the intention to have Europeans athletes their own multi-sport competition which are similar to those held on other continents like the Asian Games, African Games, Pan-American Games and several others.
From the setting up of the competition, the objective of the European Youth Olympic Festival has been concerning about the creation of the opportunity for the sake of the athletes of Europe to spread the spirit of friendship, fair play, tolerance and values.
The 2009 European Youth Olympic Festival will be held in Tampere. The event will be staged under some guiding principles which will effectively bring forth a considerable rise in the number of participants. A large number of 3,300 young athletes from the age limit of about 16 or 17 are going to participate in nine different sports, such as, athletics, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, cycling, judo, handball, basketball and volleyball.