The 2022

European Youth Olympic Winter Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fir ...

was held in

Vuokatti Vuokatti is an urban area that is a physically separate part of the municipality of Sotkamo, Finland. It is home to more than 6,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populous urban area in the region of Kainuu, after the main urban area ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, between 20 and 25 March 2022. The festival was postponed from original dates in February to December 2021. Later it was announced that the games will be moved to 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

previously hosted 2001 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.

Opening ceremony

The

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

was held outside Vuokatti Areena. The Flame of Peace was carried to the stage by former biathlete

Kaisa Mäkäräinen Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen (born 11 January 1983) is a Finnish former world-champion and 3-time world-cup-winning biathlete, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics tea ...

and former cross-country skier

Matti Heikkinen Matti Heikkinen (born 19 December 1983 in Kajaani) is a Finnish former cross-country skier and World Champion who competed from 2002 to 2019. Career Heikkinen won his first World Championship at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Ho ...

. It was finally lit by young cross country skier Vilma Nissinen. President of the Republic of Finland

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...

gave the opening speech and declared the event opened. Also President of the

European Olympic Committees The European Olympic Committees is an organisation based in Rome, Italy, consisting of 50 National Olympic Committees from the continent of Europe.EOC members include transcontinental countries Turkey and the Russian Federation, as well as Israel, ...

Spyros Capralos Spyros Capralos (, born 15 April 1955 in Athens) is a Greek former water polo player and sports executive. He represented Greece at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. He has been the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee since 2009 and the p ...

and Mayor of Sotkamo Mika Kilpeläinen delivered speeches. The participating countries entered the ceremony in the flag parade. The dance group Kajaani Dance held a performance with the official song of the festival, "Long in to the Night".

Sports

The following competitions took place

Venues

Schedule

The competition schedule for the 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival is as follows: Note Boys ice hockey was played between 12 and 17 December 2021.

Participant nations

On 28 February 2022, the IOC further called for Russian and Belarusian athletes not to be allowed to participate. On 2 March 2022, however, in accordance with a recommendation by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC), EOC suspended the participation of Belarus and Russia from 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. Russia and Belarus however participated in boys' ice hockey tournament held in December 2021 and both won medals in it.

Medal table

References

{{European Youth Olympic Festival European Youth Olympic Winter Festival Multi-sport events in Finland European Youth Winter Olympic Festival Youth sport in Finland Sotkamo

Youth Winter Olympic Festival

European Youth Winter Olympic Festival

Sport in Kainuu