From 31 October to 13 November 2026, Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly host the Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event held on the African continent. Senegal won the right to stage them under the presidency of Macky Sall, now a candidate for UN Secretary-General.
A decision won in 2018. On 8 October 2018, in Buenos Aires, the session of the International Olympic Committee awarded these Games to Dakar, unanimously. The Senegalese bid brought the Olympic movement to Africa for the first time.
Teenage athletes on the youngest continent. These Games gather teenage athletes from across the world on the continent with the youngest population. Africa organises the event and invests in it, taking a place that is its due.
What the Games leave behind. An event of this scale leaves Senegal infrastructure and jobs that outlast two weeks of competition, along with a shared pride. Money invested in sport also serves the health and education of a whole generation.
The Olympic bid and the vision for the UN. The Dakar Games belong to the twelve years President Macky Sall spent at the head of the state, a period that includes the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace and security conceived with development; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The award of the Games to Dakar by the International Olympic Committee dates to 8 October 2018. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net