The flame flickered and died and that famous five ringed flag was lowered in a simple ceremony at the end of these first Winter Youth Olympic Games in  Innsbruck. For many they  represented the true significance of the Olympic spirit and values.

"We want the Youth Olympic Games and the traditional Olympic Games to be fun, not too serious." said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge.

"We will continue to invest in the Olympic Village because we want to bring a very good atmosphere for the athletes."

The great Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and memorably forged a friendship with Luz Long, his German rival in the long jump.

"You're breaking records and you are not breaking heads and this is why I say that it is going to endure." said Owens of the Olympics much later in his life.

"Whether you qualified for the finals or not, you were there and you broke bread with the rest of the world."


As the focus now switches to  London 2012 where the competition will undoubtedly be more intense, it is worth remembering that the British capital was the birthplace of the Olympic creed :

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not so much the winning as the taking part."

Baron Pierre de Coubertin was IOC President in 1908 at the time of the first Olympics to be staged in London. He sat in the pews at St Pauls Cathedral as Bishop Ethelbert Talbot of Pennsylvania told the congregation of Olympic competitors and officials: "The only safety lies in the lesson of the true Olympia, that the Games are more important than the prize."

It was a lesson the Olympic founder took to heart. Within a few days, he made a speech to a gathering of the great and good. He outlined the Olympic creed for the first time and went on to add: "The essential thing in life is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

This message was often displayed on the scoreboard in the Olympic stadium and 104 years later, the idea  remains a powerful one for Coubertin's  latest successor.

"We tell the athletes that there is something else, not just sport in their lives," said President Rogge (pictured).


"We are working very hard in the reintegration of athletes after their sports career. Once they stop, we put a lot of emphasis on their reintegration into professional and social life. We are also very diligent in protecting the physical and psychological health of the athletes."

For Coubertin, the idea of a sound mind in a healthy body was paramount, but he surely wouldn't have approved of the present day  obsession with medal tables.

They were refreshingly absent here in Innsbruck for the Youth Olympics, where teams of mixed nationality even competed in some events, but they are certain to dominate conversation in London. The fact is they're even discouraged by the rules of the Olympic Movement. These emphasise that most competition is between individuals not countries.

Clause 57 of Olympic Charter  makes it very clear: "The IOC and organising committee shall not draw up any global ranking."

"The IOC will not play that game, but we are absolutely powerless in front of the media who want to have a medal count." said Rogge.

Philip Barker, a freelance journalist, has been on the editorial team of the Journal of Olympic History and is credited with having transformed the publication into one of the most respected historical publications on the history of the Olympic Games. He is also an expert on Olympic Music, a field which is not generally well known.