Champions in-waiting

Sporting stars of the future are in Singapore, taking part in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). However, sprinkled amidst the hopefuls, are handfuls that have already succeeded at full international level.

At the forefront are British diver Tom Daley and top Russian gymnast Viktoria Komova. Coaching and advising these athletes of tomorrow are numerous former Olympians that reads like a Who's Who.

Singapore is hosting an event that comprises 26 sports ranging from aquatics to wrestling, including canoeing, equestrian, modern pentathlon and taekwondo, and ends tomorrow.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge attended the athletes' village at Nanyang Technological University, accompanied by Singapore YOG Organising Committee chairman Ng Ser Miang. He stopped by several cultural education booths set up by local students.

Said Rogge: "This is the main purpose of this YOG. I think these games have been a resounding success.

"We wanted to have something that was not a mini-Olympics, that was not a world junior championship, but would contain education and culture along with high-level sport.

"That's what we're getting here. The athletes, they love it!"

Rogge, a former Olympic sailor, described the village as "first class".

"This is the 22nd village I've visited, starting with my first Olympic Games in 1968 when I was an athlete. So I can compare, and this is really in the top league of the Olympic villages."

Former Olympic medallists are tipping the YOG wonder youngsters for Olympic glory in London two years from now.

Pole vaulting legend Sergey Bubka said: "This is the Youth Olympic Games, it's every person's dream to perform well. The athletes can certainly go on to compete in the main Olympics. This is an unforgettable experience that will help them build their future."

But when the curtain falls on the Games, those clutching medals would do well to remember that they are not yet champions in the adult mould.

Bridging the gap between the junior and senior levels will require many years of tough training, said former French table tennis star Jean-Philippe Gatien. "They cannot think that they have arrived after playing in one YOG," said the 1992 Olympic silver medallist.

Records have been obliterated, mostly in swimming, while performances in other sports have drawn high praise from former Olympians and senior officials.

"All the best youth athletes in the world are here and they want to represent their countries, so it's not a wonder why they're setting new records," said former sprinter Frankie Fredericks, a four-time Olympic silver medallist.

The record-smashing began on the first day of weightlifting, when China's Deng Wei added a kg to the world junior record for the girls' 58kg event.

Her precociousness was quickly matched by compatriot Tang Yi. The 17-year-old swim queen-in-waiting has already re-written three junior world records, notching six gold medals. It could have been seven but for the disqualification of her 4x100 relay team.

Her collection was two short of the record eight golds American star Michael Phelps collected in Beijing in 2008, but it was still an impressive haul.

But, unlike most of her rivals, the student from Tongji University, Shanghai, already boasts Olympic experience. She debuted in Beijing, as part of the fourth-placed team in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Archery has Kwak Ye Ji, a South Korean girl whose ranking score of 670 bested the world junior mark, and was just three points shy of the senior Olympic record.

Other youngsters, like Polish shot putter Krzysztof Brzozowski and Ukrainian shooter Serhiy Kulish are lurking near-record marks.

In sports, where performances are not so easily quantified by measuring tapes or chronographs, visiting coaches and officials observed that the competition had been top-notch.

"The level at the YOG is very, very high," said Federation Internationale de Gymnastique president Bruno Grandi. "Some gymnasts here are ready to compete in the world championships."

According to officials of Fina, the world body for swimming, the final of the boys' three-metre springboard at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex was the first time diving was contested in the open at night.

"It was amazing," said Jesus Mena, Fina's diving technical committee chairman and the 1988 Olympics 10-metre platform bronze medallist. "Before it was a myth that you couldn't dive at night in an outdoor pool. Now we know it's possible. This could change the sport."

It is not just about aesthetics. There were worries that swimmers would have trouble judging the pool's surface under artificial light. But that was solved with the use of sprays to agitate the water.

Instead, diving at night has added a pragmatic plus. A bright day can spell trouble for divers who can mistake the blue of the sky for the colour of the water.

But, "under the stars", 10-metre platform world champion Daley said, "there was better contrast between the sky and the pool. That helps the divers."

However, the 16-year-old failed to take advantage and finished ninth. He was hindered by a tricep tear in his right arm, but said: "I had to compromise some of my diving techniques because of the injury, but that's no excuse."

In the end, it was China's Qiu Bo who won gold, having led five rounds.

That said, few athletes (aside from professional footballers) know how to fall like gymnasts do. But as Britain's Sam Oldham showed, they certainly know how to bounce back. Four days after crashing from the high bar in the all-around final and dropping out of second place at the final apparatus, Sam found redemption.

The 16-year-old claimed his first gold from the high bar final, which was also the last artistic gymnastics event of the competition.

These first games have been hailed by all as a wonderful development and a tremendous success. While some coaches have emphasised on learning, there is no doubting the raw desire of the athletes to compete for gold.

However, for those who have failed to achieve their ultimate goal, the experience has provided many positives.

Competing at any early age against international athletes helps them gauge their own level and allows them to look for faults in their techniques in the highest level of competition under the tutelage of legends.