Lillehammer Young Leaders Programme

Foto: Alexander Eriksson / LOLSC

Lillehammer Young Leaders Programme is our main project for young leaders in sports. Together with the Norwegian participants, we welcome international young leaders from all over the world to take part in the Programme together with us. We strive to facilitate an arena both for academic and social learning and networking amongst the yearly participants. Across borders, young leaders from different sports, backgrounds, and roles exchange thoughts, experiences, impulses, and inspiration! And all of this at the same time as the participants get to see the Olympic legacy in Lillehammer – visiting sporting events, arenas and facilities, the Norwegian Olympic Museum, and other memorable places. For some participants, it is their very first meeting with the cold Norwegian winter season – and snow!

So far, more than 100 participants from over 20 different nations have been part of the Lillehammer Young Leaders Programme.

We can’t wait for this year’s international participants to arrive in Lillehammer in February for this winter’s greatest adventure!

Training Camps

In order to share Norwegian winter sports expertise and to support young athletes from around the world, we organize international training camps targeted to young athletes and their coaches. All training camps are organised in close corporation with the respective National Federation. In addition to the physical training, we also focus on seminars and social activities for both the athletes and the coaches. As a part of the legacy from the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer 2016, we want the participants to “Meet, learn and share”. We also aim to involve young people from Norway in the camp as “young leaders” to give them valuable experiences in a young international environment.

Read more about our different training camps here: Camps

Olympic Day

In collaboration with the Norwegian Olympic Museum, Lillehammer Olympic Legacy Sports Centre is hosting the international celebration of Olympic Day in Norway! What is Olympic Day?In relevance with our regional Olympic legacy, we are arranging the international celebration of Olympic Day! The goal of the celebration is to unite the community in Lillehammer by engaging in activities related to the three Olympic pillars: “Move, Learn, Discover”.The concept originated in Paris, in 1948 – as a marking of Pierre de Coubertin`s initiative to host the first modern Olympic Games. Activity programIn the open-air museum at Maihaugen, there will be activities designed for the whole family to participate in. Both individual and team activities! In addition, there will be challenges with premiers at the stand.Inside the museum, we are hosting an Olympic quiz. By exploring the museum with all its historical material you will find the answers to the questions – and get to experience the magic inside the walls of the museum.

Young leadership

As you may know, the Youth Olympic Games 2016 in Lillehammer was an important measure in order to increase involvement of young people in sport here in Norway, and the event gave young leaders fantastic possibilities to grow and develop as leaders. Two hundred young leaders were trained before the games, not only to offer support as leading volunteers during the YOG, but also to encourage them to pursue careers in sport in the future. We as a legacy-center really believe in young engagement, and we believe that we through our activities also can offer young leader opportunities to learn more about leadership and get more valuable experience.

Young leaders at international training camps

Sharing of winter sport expertise

Lillehammer Olympic Legacy Sports Centre assists visiting event organizers and other visitors that would like to learn more about winter sport itself, the way Lillehammer has been able to host two Olympic Games, and about the Lillehammer Olympic legacy including venues, events and competence. In the last years, we have been working closely with China and Beijing 2022 in order to share our knowledge to the best for the  Olympic Games in Beijing 2022.In the last years, more than 50 delegations from sport event organizers around the world have been visiting Lillehammer all coordinated by LOLSC.

Legacy Research Project

The Lillehammer Olympic Sports Legacy Centre (LOLSC) and The Lillehammer Olympic Studies Centre(which is a cooperation between The Inland Norway University and The Norwegian Olympic Museum), have received 500 000 NOK in support from the Regional Research Foundation to a research project on «The Lillehammer Olympic Legacy». The funder of the grant is Inland Norway Research Council. The title of the research project is «Olympic legacy; knowledge, governance and innovation». Professor Jon Helge Lesjö, Professor Dag Vidar Hanstad, Researcher Eivind Merok and Project leader Trine Lövold Syversen will together with the LOLSC representatives Jostein Buraas og Per Erik Maehlum contribute to the project. This is a one-year research project, and the project has national and international partners who also will contribute to the project through their participation in workshops. The partners are from public authorities in the region, organizers of international and national sport events, the Olympic arenas and destinations for winter sport in the region. We are looking forward to contributing to the research-field on the Olympic legacy with the Lillehammer experiences from the Winter Olympics in 1994 and Youth Olympic Games in 2016.

Legacy Film Project

With funding and support from the IOC, we’re producing a legacy-film in order to tell the story about the Lillehammer-Legacy after hosting two Olympic games. The film will focus on Legacy for Sport, Legacy for the People, and Legacy for the City/Region. The IOC is planning to present the film in the legacy section on their website .