London 2012 Targets youth For Olympic Games

London 2012 Olympics Chief Sebastian Coe said Friday the occasion would be unashamedly targeted at getting young people into sport, as London prepares to mark two years to go until the Games start.Coe said the Olympics would use novel media platforms and angle its ticketing strategy at stirring a new generation to take a lasting interest in sport.

With five years gone since London was awarded the Olympics and two to go until they get in progress on July 27, 2012, Coe said capturing the youth market would be vital to the Games' success."You need the interactivity if you are authentically delivering on the vision to put young people at the heart of the Games," the 1500m Olympic gold medal winner in 1980 and 1984 told reporters.

"Our mascots were in a large part shaped by and for young people, using language, visuals and technology that are far more familiar to them."We've reached out to young people not just through sport, but through our cultural programmes. It makes good quality sense. This is where young people are."Our communication strategy is flagrantly in new media. That is the way you communicate with young people.

"The world they live in, you've got to be much more imaginative if you want to get your messages across and invite them to join you."Coe said organisers were secure to finalising ticket prices and the event schedules. He said ticket prices needed to maximise revenue, make sure full stadia and crucially get youngsters in.

"We need to make sure that they are at prices that allow in the people that you actually want to be in there, inspiring ideally a new, young generation of competitors," he said.The 53-year-old said Tuesday would mark a divide in the London 2012 journey."We're a couple of day off quite a big instant for us. The last five years have gone extremely quickly," he said.

"The next two years of this project both in terms of operational delivery and in communicating and appealing are really the hard business end of the project."He said their strategy were well-suited to survive the economic downturn and government cuts to their budget."The Olympic project is as valid today with the economy at a lower ebb," Coe said."When we were bidding, we were still putting at the centre of our project a sustainably and a responsibly-delivered Games.

"We have always set about delivering a Games that is not simply bigger than the last Games because that's what's always been done, but one with a legacy at its heart. That's why these Games are different."