International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge praised the first-ever Winter Youth Olympics on Sunday, saying the competition "exceeded all expectations."
Organizers claimed the 10-day event to have been a resounding success, drawing over 100,000 spectators to the venues where the action was broadcast to 70 countries.
"The first-ever Winter Youth Olympic Games have exceeded all expectations and laid solid foundations for future Youth Olympic Games. We owe a debt of gratitude to the organizers and the many volunteers," Rogge said, according to an IOC statement.
The Games opened Friday, bringing together a thousands 14- to 18-year-old athletes from 70 nations to the Tyrolean capital. They follow the inaugural Summer Youth Games in Singapore in 2010. Medals were up for grabs in seven sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, figure skating and alpine skiing.
Despite snow storms forcing several events to be postponed or canceled, organizers claimed competitions ran so smoothly that daily logistics meetings involving representatives from each nation were called off.
"This is something we can be rightly proud of," said Peter Bayer, head of the organizing committee.
A less predictable disruption came on Thursday, when an unexploded World War II bomb was discovered during construction works near the medal plaza in the center of Innsbruck. Medal ceremonies were postponed to allow time for the bomb to be defused.
The next winter event is in 2016 in Lillehammer, Norway, site of the 1994 senior Games, while Nanjing, China, will host the 2014 Youth Summer Games.
