BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, on Thursday announced "Buenos Aires is ready" for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, which is to start on Saturday.
According to Bach, who shared his thoughts during a press conference at the Buenos Aires Hilton Hotel, the competition's program is "very modern".
The program includes Olympic debuts for sports including breakdancing, karate and sport climbing and "shows that we would like to use the Youth Olympic Games as a laboratory to test new sports, new events and see how they fit together," said the president.
Bach, 64, stated that "the time is right for a new era in the Youth Olympic Games" and predicted that with the changes, the event will witness "many novelties for the entire Olympic movement."
The inclusion of these very modern sports outline the committee's belief that "the sport of the future must go where the people go."
For that reason, said Bach, "we will see many activities that the young generation don't just watch, but also practice and participate in."
Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic fencer, also noted another first for the Youth Olympic Games, which will "be followed by a global audience through the Olympic channel, offering live digital and on-demand video coverage."
He added his personal excitement for Saturday's inauguration ceremony in central Buenos Aires, having arrived in the city "for the first time as a young athlete in 1973."
Some 3,998 athletes aged between 15 and 18 from 206 countries and regions across the world will participate in the competition.
The Summer Olympic Youth Games 2018 is the third time the competition has been held, following Singapore in 2010 and Nanjing, China in 2014.