After 130 years of the modern Olympic movement, the Olympic Games have finally come to Africa, as Senegal opened the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Saturday night.
Main image: DGBN graphic. Photo: Dario Pignatelli / European Union / Wikimedia Commons, Attribution
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared the Games open before tens of thousands of spectators at the Diamniadio Olympic Stadium outside Dakar, according to the Associated Press. The ceremony ran under the motto “Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates”.
A celebration of Senegal and the continent
Hundreds of drummers and dancers filled the arena. Performers dressed in yellow, black and white traditional Senegalese gowns formed a giant map of Africa as they moved in unison. The programme also featured West African oral storytelling, a concert by Senegalese singer Obree Daman and the parade of athletes.
“This is a historic moment for Senegal, for Africa and for our entire Olympic family,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, the former Zimbabwean swimmer who is the first African to lead the organisation. Earlier in the day she said the Games were showing the world a capacity in Africa “that sometimes is underestimated”.
Faye struck a similar note at a sport and development summit before the ceremony. “Today it’s not just a nation that is welcoming the Youth Olympic Games, it’s an entire continent that is opening its arms,” he said.
The Games in numbers
About 2,700 athletes aged 14 to 17 will compete in 153 medal events across 25 sports until 13 November. The action is spread across eight venues in three locations: Dakar, Diamniadio and the coastal town of Saly, around 80km from the capital.
Senegal is fielding 136 athletes, supported by around 6,000 Senegalese volunteers. Dakar was originally due to host in 2022, but the pandemic pushed the event back four years.
The first refugee team ever to compete at a Youth Olympics is also in Dakar, with six athletes based in Kenya and Uganda taking part in athletics, judo and taekwondo. Russia, meanwhile, has sent 13 athletes who are competing under their national flag at an Olympic event for the first time since 2022, after the IOC effectively lifted the Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension in July.
Why it matters
For decades, Africa has supplied some of the Olympic movement’s greatest stars without ever hosting the Games. Dakar 2026 changes that. Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo told AFP that once the Games begin, “Dakar will become the capital of African youth”. Coventry said the ceremony would be shown live in more than 30 countries, with every African nation committed to broadcasting the Games.
The excitement is not universal. AFP reported a more muted mood among many Senegalese, who are more focused on the cost of living and unemployment. But with South Africa formally bidding for the 2036 Summer Olympics, the next fortnight in Senegal will be watched as a test of whether the continent is ready for the senior Games.