A total of 3,531 athletes between 14 and 18 years of age from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated at the Games in 201 events in 26 sports.
To foster friendship among participants, teams were formed by athletes from different countries to compete, often on an intercontinental basis.
In addition, some traditional events at the main Olympic Games were modified, most notably in basketball, which was contested according to FIBA 33 rules.
On 15 October 2010 the IOC announced that an Uzbek silver medallist had failed a drugs test and had been disqualified, but no immediate decision was taken on whether to promote the next two athletes.
Both were disqualified and Hakkulov was stripped of his silver medal, although no decision was taken on whether to promote Shadybek Sulaimanov and Johan Rodriguez Banguela in the event.