1,375 YOUNG ATHLETES IN THE WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

1,375 young athletes, 757 boys and 618 girls, representing 173 countries, will be participating in the 7^th World Youth Championships, scheduled from 6 to 10 July 2011 at the Stadium Nord in Lille Métropole. 

The previous participation record was held by the 2009 edition in Bressanone/Brixen, Italy, with a total of 1,285 athletes and six years ago (2005), Marrakech, Morocco achieved a record for the number of countries represented, with 1,250 athletes split between 177 nations.

The 1,375 athletes in figures

=> The largest delegation: Spain with 43 athletes (following on from the host country)

=> The smallest delegation: 63 countries are featuring just a single athlete at the event. Among them, 42 are sending a boy and 21 are sending a girl.

=> The largest female contingent: the German delegation stands out with 22 girls and 7 boys.

=> On average, 54 countries are represented by at least 10 athletes.

=> The French delegation, the host country, is made up of 51 athletes, 26 girls and 25 boys. Among them, 38 of the 51 athletes were born in 1994 (2^nd year youths), the remaining 13 athletes were born in 1995 (1^st year youths).

The first team to set their bags down in northern France was Kuwait, whose costs have been covered by the Conseil Général du Pas-de-Calais County Council since 21 June, within the scope of the Pas-de-Calais 2012 mission.

A dozen countries from Central and South America arrived at the CROUS (Regional Centre assisting with Student Accommodation) in Lille on 25 June for some preparatory training sessions. In addition, some other delegations are in training in France or Europe, with New Zealand preparing in Reims for example.

Since the weekend of 25 June, a number of countries have been arriving in the Nord Pas-de-Calais region each day. Indeed the pace is set to pick up from Sunday 3 July with the arrival of 18 countries, which will bring the numbers to 119 countries on Monday 4 July. The French athletes meantime have also been training in Lens since Wednesday 29 June and will take their marks in Villeneuve d'Ascq from Sunday.

Teamwork in Lille

In total several hundred volunteers will be busy behind the scenes making this international competition a real success.

The volunteers from Lille Métropole 2011 comprise students, retired people as well as wage-earners:
=> Originating from France (93%), Africa (2.35%) and Latin America (0.59%)
=> From the athletics family – 71% are members of the FFA (French Athletics Federation).
=> Nearly a third of the volunteers are aged between 21 and 30 years of age.
=> 93% of the volunteers come from France and 90% are residents of the Nord-Pas de Calais region.

The Opening ceremony – Tuesday 5 July at 1830 hours

At the heart of the city, 700 local participants and 1,200 athletes will come together, at the Grand'Place, to celebrate the opening of the 7^th World Youth Championships of Athletics.

Since March, amateurs of all generations have been taking part in rehearsal workshops, supervised by professional artistic teams. Four groups will show off their creative streak using the theme of sporting gesture, mixed with great cheer and a touch of humour: 4 choreographed spectacles will thus be integrated into the procession of brass instrument, guitar or Batucada airs.

The parade will take the merrymaking as far as the final venue at the Place François Mitterrand where a Flash-Mob* involving the whole procession and the general public will be launched.

The choreography training is available on the website: (link to the video)
=> 1815 hours – Opening of the ceremony
=> 1830 hours – Start of the Grand'Place procession
=> 1945 hours – Official speech
=> 2000 hours – Flash-Mob* Place François Mitterrand

* "Flash-mob" is where a group of people get together in a public place to perform activities agreed in advance prior to quickly dispersing.

 Futher informations on the website  https://www.lillemetropole2011.com/