By Duncan Mackay

Guadalajara 2011_opening_ceremonyFebruary 18 - Guadalajara has been chosen ahead of Monterrey as Mexico's candidate for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, it has been announced.


It will the second consecutive bid from the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Guadalajara withdrew from the race to host the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics following a poor evaluation report from the International Olympic Committee. 

The event was subsequently awarded to Nanjing in China.

But the State Government claimed Guadlajara withdrew because they wanted to "give top priority to the organisation of the XVI Pan American Games 2011", which they successfully hosted and was attended by more than 6,000 athletes from 42 countries. 

The Mexican Olympic Committee (COM) claimed that that was behind their decision to choose Guadalajara ahead of Monterrey, the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, and that it now has all of the facilities with the capacity that would be needed for the Youth Olympics.

Felipe Muñoz, the President of the COM, claimed that because of the Pan American Games Guardalajara would be able to host the Youth Olympics with minimum investment. 

Guadalajara also has an experienced team led by Dr. Carlos Andrade, the general director of the Organising Committee for the Pan American Games, and experienced people in key roles, Muñoz claimed.

He also promised that Youth Olympic events would be attended based on the fact that, at 90 per cent capacity, Guadalajara 2011 was the best attended Pan American Games in history. 

Guadalajara, the 10th largest city in Latin America and Mexico's second most populous municipality with a population of 1.5 million, joins a field that already has confirmed bidders in Buenos Aires in Argentina and Medellín in Colombia.

But other potential bid cities include Abuja in Nigeria, Glasgow in Britain, The Hague in Netherlands, Dagestan in Russia and a bid from Sweden from either Gothenburg, Malmö or Stockholm.

Cities planning to bid have to inform the IOC by March 1.

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