Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Innsbruck, Austria and Kuopio, Finland, will vy for the first-ever Winter Youth Olympic  Games in 2012, the Olympic Movement’s answer to the growing problem of drugs and other forms of abuse in sports.

The two cities’ names were released as finalists Monday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne. The final decision will be made by members of the IOC, voting by mail, and the winner will be announced 12 December. The Games are expected to host 1,000 athletes and 500 team officials. The IOC in a press release shared its vision for the new event: “The Youth Olympic Games aim to bring together talented athletes – age group 14 to 18 - from around the world to participate in high-level competitions but also to run, alongside the sports element of the event, educational programmes on the Olympic values, the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values sport can deliver and the dangers of doping and of training to excess and/or of inactivity.”

The first Summer Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore in 2010.

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