Guadalajara stays in 2014 Youth Olympics bidding

MEXICO CITY — The sports chief of the Mexican state of Jalisco says Guadalajara will remain as a candidate for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. The Mexican city last week received a lukewarm review from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission, but state sports minister Carlos Andrade Garin said on Wednesday the city would stay in the bidding against Nanjing, China, and Poznan, Poland. The IOC said Guadalajara presented a risk, partly because the city may be financially stretched trying to prepare for the 2011 Pan American Games. "We have the infrastructure and plans for hotels, but we have to be realistic," Andrade Garin said, noting the IOC evaluation. Building for next year's Pan Am Games have been behind schedule. Plans call for a stadium for athletics, an aquatic center and an athletes' village. The IOC said last week that Nanjing presented the least risk of the three. The evaluation should make the Chinese city the favorite when IOC members vote for a host city on Feb. 10 in Vancouver ahead of the Winter Olympics. The inaugural Youth Games will be in Singapore from Aug. 14-26. The first winter version will take place in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012. The 2014 Youth Olympics is scheduled for 12 days with up to 3,500 athletes. – AP