Senegal inaugurated the 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Saturday with a ceremony in Diamniadio, the first Olympic event ever staged on the African continent.
Roughly 2,700 competitors aged 14 to 17 will take part through November 13 across 25 disciplines in Dakar, Diamniadio and the coastal resort of Saly, France 24 reported. The schedule features 153 medal events. Four sports appear at a Youth Olympics for the first time: Baseball5, a compact five-a-side version of baseball without bats or gloves; Wushu, a Chinese martial art; coastal rowing beach sprint; and beach wrestling, reflecting Senegal's traditional wrestling heritage.
"It is time for Africa, time for Senegal," International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told reporters after landing in Dakar this week, according to RFI. Coventry, a former Zimbabwean swimming champion, assumed the IOC presidency last year as the first African and first woman to lead the organisation.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was due to open the games at 6:30 p.m. local time at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio, with Coventry and several heads of state present, The Independent reported. French actor Omar Sy, who has Senegalese ancestry, and Senegalese-Italian social media personality Khaby Lame are serving as ambassadors and were expected to attend.
The event comes 130 years after the modern Olympic movement began in Athens. Dakar had been selected for the 2022 edition, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the games back four years.
A refugee delegation will compete at a Youth Olympics for the first time, with six athletes from Kenya and Uganda entered in track and field, judo and taekwondo.
Russia is fielding 13 athletes under its own flag at an Olympic event for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered a suspension. Russian competitors took part as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2026 Winter Games. The change reflects Coventry's position that athletes should not be penalised for government actions, and may foreshadow a full Russian return at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The festivities coincide with a severe debt crisis in Senegal. Public debt stood at an estimated 132 percent of GDP at the end of 2024, RFI reported. Legislators from the ruling Pastef party rejected a revised 2026 budget bill in late October. The International Monetary Fund outlined a preliminary €1.93 billion support package in September. Many citizens say they are focused on basic living costs rather than attending events.
Human Rights Watch has condemned a March amendment to Senegal's penal code that doubled the maximum sentence for consensual same-sex relations to 10 years and criminalised advocacy for LGBT people and groups. The organisation said the measure conflicts with the Olympic Charter.
African countries are increasingly treating sport as "a weapon in diplomacy and a tool for development," Dakar-based analyst Frédéric Sohoundé told France 24. South Africa staged the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Morocco will co-host the 2030 tournament. Rwanda held Africa's first road cycling world championships last year. Formula 1 plans a grand prix in Rwanda early next decade.