GLASGOW has been confirmed as the sole UK bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, just four years after it will stage the Commonwealth Games.
The city believes it will have the infrastructure to run the 12-day event, which would attract 3600 young athletes aged 15 to 18 participating across all of the 28 summer Olympic sports.
If successful, the event would rival the scale of the 2014 Games. The city council formally submitted its interest before last night's deadline set by the British Olympic Association (BOA).
The BOA will decide over the next few weeks whether it should go with a UK bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for consideration.
It will work with representatives from Glasgow "to discuss, test and develop the submission" over the next four weeks.
A final decision will then be made on February 27, ahead of the IOC deadline of March 1. A shortlist of candidate cities will then be made in January 2013, before the winning host of only the third ever Youth Olympics is formally announced in the summer of 2013.
Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "Our submission for the Youth Olympic Games is a strong one, reinforcing our credentials as hosts of world-class sporting events and underlining our continuing determination to ensure Glasgow has an enduring legacy that will benefit the city for generations to come. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will soon show a global audience what we can do in terms of hosting one of the world's biggest celebrations of sport, and winning the right to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games would be another outstanding achievement for the city."
Commonwealth Games and Sports Minister Shona Robison said: "Hosting the Youth Olympic Games is an exciting prospect for both Glasgow and Scotland and we welcome the opportunity to work with Glasgow City Council and the British Olympic Association to mount a winning bid that will build on the legacy created by the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"Scotland has an enviable reputation for staging major sporting events and our credentials will be further enhanced by this event. Not only will this provide young athletes with the opportunity to compete at the top of their field, it will act as an inspiration for youngsters across the country to get active and develop their interest in sport."
The first Youth Olympic Games were held last year in Singapore, with the city seeing off competition from Athens, Bangkok, Moscow and Turin.
Nanjing, in China, will host the event in 2014.
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