Glasgow look set to be the only city in the UK that will bid for the event after Manchester and Birmingham – the other obvious British candidates for the competition – confirmed to insidethegames that they have no plans to put forward a bid.

Meanwhile the Welsh capital Cardiff appears more focused on a potential bid for the Commonwealth Games in 2026 after receiving Government support for the plan earlier this month.

Glasgow City Council has already contacted the BOA to express a preliminary interest in hosting the prestigious event for 14 to 18-year-old elite athletes because it is the sole authority of the BOA to approve any UK candidate city and agree to submit a single bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The deadline for interested cities' submissions is January 30, 2012, and the BOA will decide at their Board meeting in February whether they will go ahead with a bid.

All bids must be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by March 1, 2012 and BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said that moving to host the event presents a very exciting prospect for the BOA.

"Having experienced first-hand the excellent inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore it is exciting that we have the opportunity to consider bidding to host this fantastic youth focused event," said Hunt (pictured).

"Delivering a tangible, UK wide sporting legacy was a key element of London's bid for the 2012 Olympics, so it would be fitting if hosting the 2018 Youth Olympic Games contributed to bringing this ambition to life.

"While inviting expressions of interest from cities in the UK who wish to put themselves forward as potential candidate cities is an essential step in the process, it is important to be clear that ultimately, the decision whether to submit a bid to the International Olympic Committee rests with the National Olympic Committee."

Glasgow will be hoping that their city will prove attractive for the BOA to put forward as a UK bidding candidate due to fact the majority of the infrastructure and venues will already be in place by 2018 as they are hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow are currently building a number of brand new sporting venues for the 2014 competition – including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome – and therefore would not require major investment to stage the 2018 Youth Olympics.

Buenos Aires in Argentina, Monterrey in Mexico, Abuja in Nigeria and Kaspiysk in Russia have already said that they are likely to bid for the competition, with other potential bid cities include Medellín in Colombia and The Hague in the Netherlands.

The IOC will produce a shortlist of candidate cities in January 2013, before making a final decision on where the event is held in June 2013.

The first Summer Youth Olympics took place in Singapore last year and was hailed as a huge success, while Innsbruck is set to stage the first ever Winter Youth Olympics next month.

The Chinese city of Nanjing will host the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, while Lillehammer, Norway were this month confirmed as the hosts of the second Youth Olympic Games in 2016, which was no surprise as they were the only bidder for the event.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
December 2011: Exclusive - We are seriously interested in Glasgow 2018 Youth Olympic bid, reveals BOA chief
September 2011: Exclusive - BOA set to decide on 2018 Youth Olympic Games bid in November
September 2011: Glasgow want to bid for 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games