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The Youth Olympic Games head home at Switzerland as the third iteration of the Winter YOG were held between 9 and 22 January 2020 at Lausanne - the Olympic Capital and the home of the International Olympic Committee itself.

Lausanne made several bids in the past; the city bid to host the Summer Olympics thrice in 1936, 1944 (shelved due to World War II), and 1960, only losing to Berlin, London and Rome respectively. Switzerland, however, has previously hosted two Winter Olympics, with the alpine resort town of St. Moritz staging both the 1928 and 1948 Games.

Lausanne is picked as hosts during the IOC's 128th meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 31 July 2015, having been chosen over a bid from Brașov, the county capital of Transylvania in Romania, through a landslide decision of 71-10.

Participated by 1,872 athletes from a Games record-high 79 nations, these Lausanne Youth Games encouraged the youth to "Start now", to illustrate a starting point for youngsters to launch careers in sport, on or off the playing field.

The Games featured 8 sports and 16 disciplines, including newly added events such as a women's competition in Nordic combined, as well as ski mountaineering, or skimo - this sport would then be featured at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics. A mixed-NOC 3x3 ice hockey tournament and a women's luge doubles event were also contested as Olympic events for the first time.

In a tight medal tally, Russia topped it all with 29 medals including 10 gold medals, finishing ahead of hosts Switzerland, which they've also won 10 golds, but placed second after collecting 24 medals overall. Japan came at third with nine golds and 17 medals of any color.

The Lausanne Youth Games has been a first step to their Olympic careers by such alumni as US snowboarding sensation Dusty Henricksen, who would pick up two Winter X Games golds a year later in 2021, and especially the San Francisco-born freeski prodigy Eileen Gu, who drew mixed international attention during Beijing 2022 because of her decision to compete for China over the US - Gu would go on to put on a superlative display to win two golds in big air and halfpipe respectively, and a silver in the slopestyle.