Just as in Innsbruck four years ago, the organisers have got the balance just right. True, the Winter Games are always a smaller event but this is surely like it used to be before they became a sporting behemoth.

"It is the people that made the difference in 1994 and it is the same here,” said Lillehammer 1994 Organising Committee mastermind Gerhard Heiberg, clearly impressed by his successors.

This last week has been a blur of sensations in a truly magical winter wonderland, from the moment Queen Sonja opened the Norwegian Olympic Museum. She did so with a lament for a lost honeymoon spent at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico watching her new husband, the King, compete. The pattern was set for a wonderful week.

The Opening Ceremony was once again unforgettable. There was a moving rendition of the stirring Norwegian national anthem, a spectacular tour de force from the enthusiastic young cast of predominantly volunteers.

Young athletes also got a speaking part which never would have happened in the days of Avery Brundage and company, and these Games were the better for it.

We had traditional fires burning as the young "Changemakers" welcomed refugees, an example that should put the scaremongers in some tabloid newspapers I could think of to shame.

Princess Ingrid played her part to perfection just as her father had done 22 years before to the very night. Both now have lit an Olympic Cauldron. Her dad, Crown Prince Haakon, was on fire earlier in the day, sending down the perfect stone to launch the curling in one of the new venues. Curling was not part of the Olympic programme in 1994.

I’ll never forget a trip to the "Hall of the Mountain King", the awe inspiring short track speed skating venue at Gjøvik. Officially they call it the Cavern for it is hewn into the mountainside. The lady who lives in the house above steadfastly refused to move so she still lives high up above looking out over the lake. Who was it that said "Location, Location, Location"?

These Youth Olympics will mean different things to different people. For some of the competitors this will be the high point of their sporting career. For others, it is just the first step towards Olympic glory.

One for whom Olympic gold seems a distinct possibility is Russia's elfin figure skater Polina Tsurskaya, who won gold at 14, two years younger than Oskana Baiul had been when she claimed Olympic gold in 1994 at the same arena.

The spectacular Vikingskipet on the banks of the frozen lake in Hamar was really rocking with the long track speed skating. With Pyeongchang and Beijing coming up, the pool of South Korean and Chinese talent already looks awe inspiring. Park Ji Woo won the mass start to add to her earlier gold medal, while Han Mei of China goes home from the Winter Olympic Games with a nice silver service – three medals for her but motivation aplenty for an upgrade.

The South Korean boys were equally dominant. Kim Min Seok will go home with two gold medals and designs perhaps on Pyeongchang 2018.

IOC President Thomas Bach cut a positive figure when he was here earlier in the week, which would seem to guarantee the future of these Games beyond 2020, when they are due to be held in Lausanne. After that they will be held in the year following an Olympic Games so 2023 for the next Summer Games. Even so, he is well aware that there is room for improvement.

"What we have now is that the athletes at the Youth Olympic Games tell their friends and then the experience is gone," said Bach. "We must not shy away from trying something else."

Vancouver 2010 speed skating gold medallist Christine Nesbitt has been watching the events here and clearly relishing the unique atmosphere of YOG.

“It wasn’t always a lot of fun for me so it is good to see it here," she said. "When you are young you have to be like a sponge, but it is important to have fun - I really want to emphasise that. I would really love to have had this when I was young.”

It has been fabulous to see so many young fans in the crowds. They’ve had Kindergartens bussed en masse in all week. Some arrived well over an hour-and-a-half before competition began. Between a picnic in the stands they were even cheering when the routines were rehearsed before competition got underway. To watch kids taking part in the "Try the Sport" sessions out on the ice and snow was to be reassured that not all youngsters are stuck in a darkened room playing computer games.

Ever since Singapore 2010, the educational programme has been a key part of the Youth Olympic Games. It started life as the Culture Education Programme or CEP.  With every passing Games they have tweaked it slightly and now it is geared much more to useful information on preparation for competition and particularly relevant today awareness of the doping rules. The set piece "Chat with the Champions" have drawn huge audiences.

The International Olympic Academy is also here. They host an annual gathering for 18 to 36-year-olds in an inspiring site in the shadow of Mount Kronos above the stadium in Ancient Olympia where the Games of antiquity took place. Dean Kostas Georgiadis has been welcoming YOG Athletes to the booth all week.

Since 1961 many of their predecessors, including such luminaries as the great Jesse Owens, have attended here. Many talk about their own experiences at these gatherings in Greece in their own version of Learn & Share.

Lausanne know they have a tough act to follow in 2020. They’ve got a team here to observe and they won’t go far wrong if they pick up the vibe from Lillehammer. Leaving the land of the troll and the snow will be hard. As they say in these parts, "Tusen takk!"

Literally, thanks a thousand times.