Lillehammer, February 12, 2016 – Weather forecasts predict little chance of northern lights in Lillehammer tonight. The Olympic flame will thus dominate the scene after lighting the cauldron at tonight’s Opening Ceremony at the Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena – the same venue used for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games, 22 years ago!

Lillehammer is dressed up to celebrate tonight at 7 pm the start of the second Winter Youth Olympic Games with an impressive Opening Ceremony. Until 21 February, during the ten days of competitions and friendship, more than a thousand athletes (aged 15 to 18) from 70 countries will compete in 70 events in nine venues. The Lillehammer 2016 sports programme also includes eight new medal events.

 A torchbearer of exception, the Olympic cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen, will carry the torch together with 19 youngsters, and present it to Her Royal Highness Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, who will light the Olympic Flame. The princess will repeat the ritual of 22 years ago, when her father, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon, opened the seventeenth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer in 1994.

IOC President Thomas Bach and all the top Olympic Movement representatives are in Lillehammer for the event.

EOC President and ANOC Senior Vice President Patrick Hickey arrived with ANOC President Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who had come to visit the NOC of Ireland to conduct meetings with his colleague on the ANOC Executive Council. 

Watch the Opening Ceremony live on www.youtube.com/olympics, at 18.55 (GMT+1). An Olympic first, the IOC is also bringing the 2016 Lillehammer Winter YOG to life with virtual reality (VR) coverage. With the support of Worldwide TOP Partner Samsung, the Opening Ceremony will indeed be the first ever Olympic Ceremony streamed live in VR and throughout the Games. In order to access the VR content for Lillehammer, viewers will need a Samsung phone and compatible VR gear.

 Visit olympic.org on your mobile phone for a direct link to the Youth Olympic Games VR experience. All the action can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.