MANILA -- Filipino taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez is in the list of 76 Young Change-Makers (YCM) for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) that will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina next year.
The 21-year-old Lopez is a gold winner in the 2014 Asian Youth Games, 2015 Singapore Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and the 2017 Korean Open.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Friday the names of the 76 YCMs who were nominated by their respective National Olympic Committees.
The list includes 2016 Rio Olympics pentathlon gold medalist Chloe Esposito of Australia, rifle shooting bronze medalist Istvan Peni of Hungary, and rugby silver medalist Sarah Goss of New Zealand.
Also named YCMs were 2014 Nanjing YOG gold medalists Yuliia Levchenko of Ukraine (high jump) and Sofia Goicoechea Ruiz of Argentina (golf), silver medalist Aleksandra Samardzic of Bosnia Herzegovina (judo), and 2010 Singapore YOG bronze medalist Yara Hanssen of Zimbabwe (equestrian).
Aside from promoting the YOG and Olympic values, the role of the YCMs is focused on helping the athletes in their national teams get the most of their experience by encouraging them to interact with people from different sports and backgrounds and to join activities and workshops, featuring sessions on injury prevention, anti-doping, careers in sport and media training.
The YOG is a multi-sport tournament for athletes 14 to 18 years old. (PNA)
