The very first Youth Olympic Games have officially ended. The Olympic flame has been extinguished and last night marked the closing of a brand new chapter.
This is Clarissa Sih, your McDonald's Young Journalist, and I was there, experiencing first hand the emotion behind the end of a 14 day sporting extravaganza. As the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. And with this, I present to you the following essay.

Sheik Haikel revving up the crowd before the ceremony began

Before celebration could begin, we had to welcome all 3600 Guests of Honour! 

The dancers holding their poses, waiting for their cue to kick start the evening. They were standing there for a good 5 minutes. I don't know how they managed to hold on for so long! :O

Recollecting on the past 14 days of intense competition

Moments filled with learning, 

Glory,

Pride,

And of course, Victory

A high flying acrobatic feat

One of my favourite performances for the night

Time for formalities as the two most important people that made this whole Youth Olympic Games happen addressed the audience.

President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Jacques Rogge, delivering his closing address

Mr Ng Ser Miang, Head of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee saying his piece

As one chapter closes,

another is about to begin. The handover to China for the Youth Olympic Games Nanjing 2014.

The raising of the national flag of the People's Republic of China

The national flags of Singapore and China flying alongside each other

The final moments before the Olympic flame was extinguished

The crowd watched in silence as the flame slowly lost its glow and finally stopped burning. There was a moment of stunned astonishment in the air as it hit us that the event that we had all been looking forward to so badly and planning so intensely for had now come to an end. 

But emotions were put aside quickly and the most enjoyable part of the night was here!

The music came on, the floodlights went off, and that was when the party began!

The athletes letting go after 14 mentally and physically draining days 

My fellow Young Journalists and I lapping up the atmosphere!

So, that was it! 14 unforgettable days of competition, filled with numerous exclusive interviews and countless new friends, over just like that! The night was tinged with sadness and relief as it marked the end of my stint as a McDonald's Young Journalist. I am glad that I had the chance to share my Youth Olympic experience with you. 

Till we meet again and signing off for the last time, Clarissa

:)

I had the opportunity to visit the Youth Olympic Village (YOV)!

It’s not easy to get access into the YOV because there were a heck load of security surrounding the perimeter of the buildings. There was even a road block where a police officer came up the YOG bus (you know, the purple bus with Lyo and Merly?) to look around and see if we were hiding any criminally dangerous fugitives.

I kid..

...About the fugitives part. But I’m serious about the security! I guess it’s good, ‘cause that means the athletes won’t have to worry about er, assassinations? Er, if that happens

Um… Yeah. They did look that serious. And I even saw a shotgun. Swear I’m not lying!

I was at the YOV as part of my YOG duties. As a video editor I have to travel down with my crew so that I can help tell what I need when I do my editing for the video, so it was awesome that this time we were heading down to the YOV!

(Part of the reason okay, the main reason why I was so excited was because I’d heard there were plenty of cute athletes like him there! So imagine my excitement. Hee hee.)

And I feel so sad. I did not get to meet a cool, cute athlete like Tom Daley, unlike my friend CP. *mopes in a corner*

So yep. Moving on from my moping... Here's the YOV.

Anyway, I had to do my work first before I could play, and our job was to interview Lin Sheng, a fencer from the People’s Republic of China who won the Cadet Female Individual Epee Gold Medal. Her opponent was Alberta Santuccio from Italy, who was the top seed for the event. (That means that during the seeding rounds, she was top and more or less expected to win during the real rounds. I think.)

Lin Sheng in action! (Pic courtesy of Singapore2010)

It was an unexpected win because after nine minutes of regular play, they’d ended at 8-8 and went into extra time. So awesome right!

If you want more info, check out this article here!

I met her and she was super nice. Friendly and quick to warm up, she gave us really good material to make a pretty fun video, which you can see below. Hehe, hope you enjoy it. I kept laughing out loud while editing the video and my fellow colleagues thought I was a little cuckoo. Hehe.

Me and Lin Sheng! I'm on the right.
(Normally I’d leave my sad face in the pic, but I really looked hideous and half asleep in it, so I’m exercising my editorial rights to leave my face out of it by drawing a cartoon! Look! I have bigger eyes and am an inch taller. Hehe!)

And yes, I am shorter than her. She even bent down to try to make the height difference less obvious. She's only 16 and 175 cm, while I'm 18 and only 158 cm. How fail is that!

Anyway, after the interview, my crew and I walked around and we came to the Pin Trading Center. I tried to exchange pins with some athletes, but they ignored me (probably because they couldn’t see me as I’m too short!!!) or were in a hurry to get away from the scary looking dwarf that was approaching them to their venue. Meh!

But it doesn’t matter that much anyway because I got a pin!

The Pin Trader took pity on me and gave me this pin from Atlanta 1996! How cool is that! I was only 5 when that badge was made. I feel so… old. Or young. I don’t know. :/

He has a lot of pins.

But this isn’t all there is to the YOV. There’s a lot of booths:

They have different themes, according to my friends who went there. Athletes can take part in them and gain Cultural Points to redeem stuff. It’s the end of YOG today, and I’m going to miss what I’ve enjoyed of it. Are you going to be tuning in to watch the Closing Ceremony?

Deborah Fernando, a third year student from the School of Engineering, was one of the four singers that sang "Count on Me" at this year's National Day Parade (NDP). Let's hear it from Deborah as she tells us what it's like to sing in front of the NDP crowd!

How were you selected to sing at this year's NDP?

Deborah: My sister did backup vocals for a New Year's countdown party a few years back. The music director of NDP was also directing that event. So, he knew we could sing and I guess he thought of us when he needed female vocalists.

Cool! Tell us more about the performance that you were involved in?

Deborah: I was involved in Act3. This was a youth segment that included a young rapper, violinist, beat boxer and singers. The "Count On Me" remix is for the younger generation of today to show the country that we are the future and that we can be depended on hence my part "Count On Me". There were four singers altogether and we represented the youth of our nation who have great potential to continue to build and serve Singapore.

Deborah as seen on the big screen

Great remix! What's the message of this song?

Deborah: Jin "Shiggay Shay" the Rapper, wrote the lyrics to the song which had a strong message that emphasized how much you can believe in us such as, "young eagles don't fly we soar" and "I do it all for ya'll, I do it for my country, I'm down for whatever so homie, just trust me".

We love the song! It must mean something to you as well!

Deborah: The Count On Me remix is a great song and so catchy! The lyrics are amazing and meaningful that when I listen to it, I feel proud to be the future of Singapore because I believe that we do have a lot to offer.

So what was the experience of singing in front of the NDP crowd?

Deborah: Being a part of NDP was an amazing experience and a dream come true! I never thought I'd be singing at National Day in front of the whole country but there I was on that big stage! It was so much fun and I got to meet many artists with mad talent especially Corrinne May! She was really awesome; I had a lot of fun chatting with her! I'm always a little nervous backstage but once I'm out there and I see everyone waving the clappers and cheering, the energy is so high that it kills the nerves and it gets me very excited!

STARSTRUCK! from left: Deborah Fernando, Corrinne May(Singer/Songwriter), Azura Goh (violinist), Samantha Fernando (singer in Act2)

Deborah: Yeah! I'm very happy to have been involved in this year's National Day when Singapore turned 45! It was a fantastic show; I think the best one yet! It's also a very different feeling watching it on TV and being there. I enjoyed every minute of the whole experience, the preparation before the show, hair and make-up, everything!

Hey everyone! How've you been doing? 

For me, I've just finished my internship for good so mostly I've been just cleaning up all the loose ends and working on my final presentation (which I've also just finished :P). And I also found the time to enjoy myself because I went for The Click Five concert last Sunday!

It was part of the Celebration @ Marina Bay, and somehow my friend had gotten hold of VVIP tickets (seats that are right at the front!) so... the obvious thing would be to go for the concert, despite having a report and a presentation the next day... T____T (Come to think of it, I was really cutting it close. But it's over so I shan't think about it!)

I mean, in all honesty, wouldn't you have gone? Bands are breaking up all the time, so who knows! This might have been the one and only time I got to see them perform live, so I had to go! They were one of the first few bands I started to listening to back when I was in secondary school, so they're sort of tied up together with my good (and bad) memories.

In any case, the first line up for the day was Shirlyn Tan and the UnXpected!

She was pretty alright, but the crowd around here was still pretty darn dismal. There were just pockets of people scattered about. For some of us, we were a bit kiasu despite having VVIP tixs, and camped at the front rows from 4 pm even though The Click Five was scheduled to come on only around 9 pm! (Let's face it people, we only really care about international acts and as for local musicians... it's a tough life. I support some of them though!)

But the bleak audience didn't daunt her though! She sang and played some pretty good covers of "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay, "Starlight" and "Resistance" by Muse, and even had a really nice song called "Window"! The rest didn't really impress me much though... But still, good job ok! :D

Next up was Inch Chua and The Metric System. I really like her; she's fun, bubbly, plus she's got a great voice. She went up on stage all full of energy, and danced really happily. I like happy people (lulz), so it was a real joy seeing her up on stage. She sang some songs from her EP and her recently released album, Wallflower. I think the songs sound better live, so I was feeling pretty happy at this stage. My fav songs? "Rule the World", "Return of the Fat Cat" and "Wallflower". Hehe.

After that, it was Nathan Hartono's turn. Truth be told, I was eagerly anticipating his segment since I'd heard one of his songs, "Everything Changes", on a compilation CD before. So I was interested to find out if he could really sing like he did in that song, and thankfully, he didn't disappoint. He sang a couple of jazz hits like "Come Fly with Me" by Frank Sinatra and "If it's Magic" by Stevie Wonder. But there was also "Viva La Vida" again.

It kind of made me wonder if the organisers had planned out their programme properly! What were they thinking? To let two acts perform the same song... Though his rendition was technically better than Shirlyn's with the lovely concert lights and his smooth crooning, it was obvious that the stage was really empty. No live band for him, just music played in the background, so he looked kinda sad and lonely on the stage. I like his singing though.

As this was the section "Nathan Hartono and Friends", Nat's friends came on stage to perform as well... This was where things took a downturn in terms of mood and excitement.

I have nothing against her, Xing Fen (I think that's how her name is spelled), but I really, really wasn't impressed by her. She sang an original Chinese song called "Wo De Mei Yi Tian", which was jarring to the ears. Her dance routine is fine, except that it was probably too much of an exertion for her because she became breathless halfway in the second song, "Nobody" by Wonder Girls. It made me go meh. I just wanted this rather painful and boring experience to finish up quickly. :/

The next one up was Dominic Wong, and while he fared better than his other friend, it was obvious he still had some way to go before being as calm and collected like Nathan Hartono! I quite like his songs, especially "342", a song about a baby that only had 342 minutes to live. The song is a message to its mum, with a short reply at the end. Quite touching, except for the music stand that was in front of him. It really made getting photos hard as there was no way I could get a good angle from my spot. Meh. 

But finally! The Click Five came on! Hee hee. They started off the set with "Catch Your Wave", a classic TC5 song whose lyrics I can still remember and sing along to! Hehe :)

It was really fun, as it was what we'd all been waiting for so long. Even though I can't be considered a proper fangirl, I still went a little shrieky when they came on. I mean, that's what you do at concerts, isn't it! :P

It was a whole load of fun... except that we were forced to sit down calmly in our seats. Who does that?! I mean, it's a concert! At concerts you jump and dance and rock out to the songs, not sit down peacefully like tame little sheep. Even if we wanted to really stand up, we couldn't, because there were policemen everywhere. T_____T

It kind of dampened the mood, so we were all cheering a little subduedly, randomly waving our arms and going hysterical only when Kyle Patrick pointed and stared at us. Oh yes! That he did! Haha, I swear, there were times when he looked at me! Then again, the other girls sitting in my area probably thought that too when he pointed at our area, so I can't exactly be sure... But whatever. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because...

I got their autographs!

The one on the left is Joey Zehr's, and the one on the right is Kyle Patrick's.

Yep, after the concert I kind of camped outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the band, along with the few hundred other girls. And I got their autographs, which was totally worth it hehe! :) :) :)

Joey Zehr - The cutest one of the lot. Hehe :P

Kyle Patrick - I waved my notebook frantically and managed to get his autograph! Perhaps he saw that it was an unusual book and decided to sign it. :)

And this was the three of us after the concert! JY, Soph and me with our Samsung VVIP tixs. Hehe.

This was the first time we'd all been to a gig together, so it was really fun 'cause we got to spend time having fun instead of working on our publications! 

And that's it! For more pics (all of the above photos were taken by me hee hee :P), go to my flickr set: The Click Five 

And one last thing, here's the vid of Catch Your Wave that I managed to take while at the concert. Enjoy!

How many people can say that they interviewed 4 different people, each with their own unique story to tell, from all 5 continents of the Earth, all in the span of two days? Not many, I'm sure. But boy, am I proud to say that I am one of those lucky few! :D

I had the opportunity of a lifetime to interview the YOG Theme Song singers: Steve Appleton (representing Europe), Jody Williams (representing Africa), Jessica Mauboy (representing Oceania) and of course, home girl Tabitha Nauser (representing Asia) are part of the quintet that were pieced together to sing the YOG Theme Song, "Everyone".It was my 17th Birthday when I interviewed them! Talk about the best birthday present I ever had!

I had the great privilege to interview both Jody Williams and Steve Appleton. I did the interview for MediaCorp while my fellow winners, Jean and Shehnaz, conducted one interview each with Tabitha Nauser and Jessica Mauboy.

The three of us and Jessica Mauboy. :)

The interview was being conducted at the very posh Ink Club Bar at Fairmont Singapore. This being my first ever official interview, I was extremely nervous during the set up. The fact that there were three cameras on my set (compared to only one to be shared between Shehnaz and Jean) made things worse.

Pacing up and down the set and adjusting my seating position time and time again, I calmed myself down and went through the questions in my head. Before I knew it, Steve and Jody were standing there, right in front of me. I introduced myself and invited them over to the hot seat. Thankfully, I managed to do my thing without any glitches and in 20 minutes (which seemed to have flown by), the interview was over! :)

And that was it! My first job as a McDonald's Young Journalist, done! It was a great relief, but I also felt a sense of emptiness as we had to part ways with the new friends that we had made.

Cosying up to the singers!

The singers did not leave emptyhanded though. As a token as appreciation and as a memento, the Producer from MediaCorp got me (Shehnaz and Jean as well) to present the singers with a miniature lion head each.

We did not leave empty handed either!

I took a polaroid photo with each of the singers and got them to sign on them. These photos are now being displayed proudly on my photo wall! :D

Fellow journalist, Shehnaz and I with the polaroids

To see the interview, you can go to this site. You can check out more of my articles there too! :)

Now you may have noticed in my opening line that I said that I interviewed people from all 5 continents of the Earth. But seeing that Sean Kingston was not here, who was the fifth? Well, that would have to be 1996 Olympic Gold Medallist Kerri Strug. Kerri is currently residing in United States, Arizona, so I guess she represents the Americas! :)

Now, I was only three years old when Kerri won that coveted Gold medal. I was simply too young to remember anything, and I am quite sure that most of you were too young to remember too!

At 14 years young, Kerri was the youngest ever Olympic competitor. That was in 1992 when she won a Bronze medal in the Team segment for Gymnastics.

Fast forward to four years later, at the 1996 Olympics. The USA were tied neck and neck with Russia for that coveted Gold medal for the Gymnastics Team title. It was up to Kerri to execute and stick a vault to secure the medal for the team. Unfortunately, Kerri faltered on her first vault and injured her ankle. She had a second chance to make things right and guarantee victory for the team.

Kerri ran full speed towards the springboard, did her flip, and landed perfectly before collapsing in pain. That was a historic moment that was replayed time and again across all sports channels. Kerri was catapulted to fame, with her picture splashed all over the front pages of sports magazines. You can watch the historical moment here.

Fast forward once more, to 2010. And I am standing face to face with Olympic legend, Kerri Strug. She is an inspiration to many, not only those in the Gymnastics field of play. Another amazing characteristic about Kerri is her determination. She left home at only 13 years of age to train.

"I think that in order to get what you want and achieve your goals, sacrifices have to be made," she once said.

With perfect poise and an air of humble confidence, Kerri smiled and shook my hand. It felt incredibly surreal to be in the presence of an Olympic legend. I even had the privilege to recommend a few local dishes for her to try. Her chirpy voice did not mask the fatigue that she was feeling though. She was on Primetime Morning and was at a few publicity events before coming for our interviews. She was also slated to go on air on ESPN that same night.

The pressure to do well at the interview and have zero NG takes was getting to me. Once more, I composed myself and visualised myself conducting the interview.

After 15 minutes, the interview was done. Thankfully, it went on smoothly. :) Kerri was the best interviewee a journalist could ask for- she answered all the questions without prompting or hesitation, and was understanding and humble. She made me feel very comfortable, which dramatically decreased my chances of screwing up.

Small in Size, but Big in Influence! :)

Looking back, it is truly surreal, knowing that I got to meet so many amazing people over the course of three short days. Well, that's the purpose of the YOG, isn't it?

Kerri said something that I feel will really resonate with many of you who are studying for your O'Levels right now.

"I think that in order to get what you want and achieve your goals, sacrifices have to be made."

You may feel as if everything is about studies, school and TYS right now. But if you want to do well for your O's and get into your school and course of choice, this is a necessary route to take.

Sacrifices have to be made.

I wish you all the best.

Clarissa

Spellbounding, superb, spectacular.

These are three words that I would use to describe the Opening Ceremony of the very first Youth Olympic Games. The first in the world Ceremony took place on the Marina Bay floating platform and I was one of the 20 000 privelaged ones to have been present there, witnessing the spectacle as history was made.

Hello, it's me, Clarissa, McDonald's Young Journalist and your guest blogger for the duration of the Youth Olympic Games. For those who don't know who I am, you can find out more about me here.

The hairs on my hand were literally standing on end as I witnessed the 3600 athletes entering the float and taking their seats. It is hard to describe what I felt when the athletes were welcomed with thunderous applause and cheers. The idea of the youth of the world coming together here in Singapore, to compete within the values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect was hard to wrap my head around.

The athletes making their grand entrance, flags proudly waving in the air

Despite many people doing so, I shall not compare the Opening Ceremony to the National Day Parade that we saw about a week ago. But a tiny comparison I would make between the two would be the fireworks.

Those that were let loose during the Opening Ceremony were more sporadic. We never knew when the fireworks would be coming, but when they were lighted, man, it was amazing. 

The fireworks- happening right in front of me!

Centered around the theme of "A New Story", more than 5000 performers were involved in the 2.5 hour show.

One of the segments, 'Origins', highlighted the development of Singapore from a humble fishing village into a vibrant, metropolitan nation that we are today.

Singapore as it was then,

and as we are, now

Another segment, 'Monster', told the story of a boy who faced his fearr- a monster that was created in his head. The message of this segment was a powerful one. We all have our own monsters, and most of the monsters are created within ourselves, by ourselves- distractions, lack of discipline, temptations. If we have the strength to overcome our monsters and vanquish our fears, our dreams be made possible. This story was an excellent form of inspiration to all athletes slated to compete over the course of 12 competition days.

The monster- a giant puppet controlled by 20 people

A smaller version of the monster being puppeted amongst the crowd

Being a country that is full of culture and tradition, we definitely had to show the world the diversity that is present here.

The Malay and Chinese and cultures being showcased

It was really surreal to see the Singapore flag flying in the wind beside the flag with the five rings.

The raising of the Singapore flag

The Olympic flag being raised

The flags flying in unison, alongside each other

Another segment of the show that was very educational for me was the Parade of Flags.

The flags of the countries that are part of the National Olympic Committee were paraded and all 204 participating countries introduced.

France

Finland

        
Haiti

SINGAPORE!
               Note that the DNA strands represent the National colours of the counties being announced

All the 204 flags standing on parade

The most breath taking moment I would love to highlight would be when the Olympic flame was brought on the the platform.

It had travelled around the world- starting from Greece, it moved through the five continents before being brought to our island. The flame was brought to the platform via a boat in the shape of a phoenix, with a convoy of 10 dragon boats esorting it. It was held by National swimmer Amanda Lim as it entered, before being passed onto 5 other National athletes. Sailor Darren Choy was granted the huge honour of lighting the cauldron.

The caulron is in the shape of a lighthouse. As he lighted the cauldron from the bottom of the lighthouse, the flame went up a spiral path before igniting the 'bulb' in the lighthouse.

The flame arriving atop a phoenix-shaped boat

     The Olympic flame burning bright!

The flame will be kept alight in this lighthouse until the 26th, when it will be extinguished during the Closing Ceremony.

Till then, my next post will carry updates midway through the Games. I will bring you the thrills and spills of the Games from events like Swimming, Sailing, Rowing and Athletics.

I end my post with more pictures from the Opening Ceremony.

Enjoy!

The flags of the participating countries line the circumfrance of the stands

Fireworks,

Fireworks,

And more fireworks!

My fellow winners- Jean, Shehnaz, and I! :D

And with that, I bid you goodbye.
Clarissa
:)

Hey everyone! Have you seen this big blue bus recently?

In case you hadn't noticed, this big blue bus stopped by our NP bus stop recently because...

The Youth Olympic Flame had finally come to NP! 

Haha yup, that's right! Do you see that group of runners in orange?

They're part of the 2,400 runners who have been running around Singapore for the past six days to bring the Youth Olympic flame to the different parts of Singapore. And on the fourth day of its journey, it had finally arrived at NP. :)

They look so animated and engrossed with the flame! Fire~ So pretty~

As you can see, lots of people came down to support the JYOF's coming!

Don't think lightly of this flame okay! Its whole design was planned out with specific meanings in mind. Here's their description of the torch from their website:

The Youth Olympic Flame (JYOF) torch takes its design inspiration from fire and water.

Fire represents the Youth's passion and burning desire to learn and excel, blazing the trail in life. Water represents Singapore, with its origins as a seaport; and the vibrant and dynamic nature of Singapore as an island city-state.

The torch was designed to combine the dual elements of fire and water, with the water wave on the torch body and a flaming fire on top.

From http://www.singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en/en_youth_olympic_flame/en_torch.html

Pretty cool, huh? I like the idea of combining the two elements: fire and water. In any case, the torchbearers had to hold up this 1 kg torch and run with it for 100 m before passing it on to the next person. Basically it was like a relay, involving over 2,000 people passing the torch to one another in a show of spirit. And at 10.20 am on 11 Aug, the Youth Olympic Flame reached NP. More pics ahead!

They even had time to pose for photos with the Youth Olympic Flame. Haha :D

More posing and applause for the runner

And this is the second runner! He's just had his torch lit. (He reminds me of Taylor Lautner when Taylor was still doing Lava Boy and Shark Girl. Lulz.)

And they're off!

Girls all dressed up in red and excitedly cheering! (All photos above by Raymond Chua)

And that's it! The Flame then continued on its journey, and just yesterday it reached Marina Bay, where Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew (the last person to carry the torch) lit up the cauldron there! 

MM Lee Kuan Yew giving a speech~ (Photo by Brian / Singapore2010)

JJ Lin was also a torchbearer for the last day! :) (Photo by Tony Lim / Singapore2010)

You can also watch the highlights of the JYOF for Day 4 here:

And that's it! I hope you're all excited for YOG! Cos I sure am! :)