Paraguayan squash player Nicolas Caballero has been appointed his country’s Youth Olympic Games Ambassador.
The announcement was made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which published an impressive list of over 100 inspiring young people who will serve as Young Ambassadors for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
The list features active athletes, including Olympians and YOG alumni, sports coaches, students and young professionals, all aged between 18 and 25 . Despite coming from all walks of life, the Young Ambassadors, who were nominated by their National Olympic Committees, have one thing in common – a desire to live by the Olympic values, and to inspire and empower young people to do the same.
Teenager Caballero was a bronze medallist in the Pan American Games Men’s Doubles Squash event in Guadalajara in 2011. The 19-year-old from the Paraguay capital Asuncion topped that with consecutive individual bronze medals in theSouth American and Pan American junior championships – then claimed a Silver medal in Paraguay’s first appearance in the Bolivarian Games in Peru last November.
“Nicolas is the youngest ever Pan American Games medallist from Paraguay and, besides that, we believe it will encourage him to keep working hard as an athlete in his sport,” said Camilo Perez, President of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee.
The Young Ambassadors will gather in Nanjing from 25 to 28 March for a four-day seminar, when they will be fully briefed on their role, test out some of the workshops and activities that will be available to the athletes during Games times and experience Chinese culture.