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Bahrain is building on the success of the recently-held third Asian Youth Games and exploring options to host similar large-scale sporting events, like the Youth Olympics.
Speaking on the sidelines of Gateway Gulf 2025, which concluded yesterday at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, Bahrain Olympic Committee secretary-general Faris Mustafa Al Kooheji spoke about the success of the youth games, which took place from October 22 to 31 at the Exhibition World Bahrain.
“We were able to organise these games within a record time of around eight months, and the international feedback we have been getting is outstanding,” Mr Al Kooheji told the GDN.
“We had 28 sports, more than 4,000 athletes and more than 13,000 dignitaries.
“We are looking into hosting the Youth Olympics in the future. So what we hosted was the Asian Youth Games for the continent of Asia, but the Youth Olympics would be for the whole world.
“We haven’t decided yet, but we may explore that option.”
The next Summer Youth Olympic Games are set to take place in 2026 at Dakar, Senegal, while the next winter iteration will be held in Italy in 2028.
The earliest Bahrain could host the Summer Youth Olympics would be 2030, where it would be competing against at least 12 other countries, including Chile, Thailand, Russia, Ukraine and Peru.
Bahrain has not yet officially entered a bid for the 2030 Youth Olympics.
In order to be able to host events of this magnitude, the Bahrain Olympic Committee plans to address the minor challenges faced during the recently held Asian Youth Games, including logistics.
Mr Al Kooheji speaks during the discussion
“Usually, with events of this magnitude, you have an Athletes’ Village where all the athletes can be in one location, but because of the short notice we had, it was essentially a large logistics project to transport them to the games,” Mr Al Kooheji explained.
“They were spread out across 55 hotels, so you can imagine how this had to be organised effectively and efficiently.”
Mr Al Kooheji highlighted Bahrain’s sports-hosting expertise, during a panel discussion titled ‘The Experience Economy: Sports, Innovation, and Investment’ at Gateway Gulf.
The discussion was hosted by Tumi Makgabo and also featured Sportscorp founder and executive managing partner Marc Ganis as well as Global Esports Federation president and chief executive Paul Foster.
Mr Al Kooheji highlighted how sporting events have to be turned into experiences by making them more globalised, and curated to attract sponsors and spectators.
He also spoke of attracting people who may not have been previously into watching sports and encouraging the next generation to participate.
“We have previously organised something called the Baby Olympics, which encouraged parents to bring their children and let them try different sports,” he explained. “This was a good way for us to identify talent early and of course, convince the parents to have their children in sports.
“Post-Covid, sports have seen their viewership and engagement improve all over the world. If you look at media rights, they are bigger than ever, partly because the sports-viewing experience has been improving.
“But also, we have seen more interest from parents, and all the national federations were there, ready to talk to parents about getting their children more engaged in different sports.”
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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