Rogge to open Winter Youth Olympics

Olympic Games here today.
The inaugural Games are scheduled to start today and the opening ceremony is set for this evening at Bergiselschanze and 1 059 athletes from 70 countries will be taking part in the event.
Rogge arrived in Innsbruck yesterday.
Out of the 70 countries at the Games only three African nations – Eritrea, South Africa and Morocco – are expected to participate.
The three athletes from Africa will be competing in the Alpine skiing with South Africa being represented by Sive Speekman while Shannon Abeda will represent Eritrea and Morocco will field Adam Lamhamedi in the men’s event.
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow – covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings.
The Winter Games come after the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore in 2010 which saw 204 countries out of 205 National Olympic Committees taking part in the event.
Zimbabwe sent 27 athletes to compete in cycling, football, triathlon, equestrian and athletics in Singapore.
Both the Winter and Summer Youth Olympic Games involve a number of activities, including the Culture and Education Programme, meant to promote culture and education through sport.