Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics ‘a bridge to 2028 Los Angeles Games’

Some 2,700 young athletes are expected to compete, while thousands of young Senegalese have been trained for jobs linked to the event.

Malick Diouf, head of the Prims agency and founder of the Dakar Sport Summit, an annual forum on the sports economy, told RFI the Games could help prepare a new generation of African athletes for international competition – while giving Senegal the skills to host more major events in future.

RFI: From a sporting perspective, what are you expecting from this fourth edition of the YOG.

Malick Diouf: The Youth Olympic Games are coming to Senegal at exactly the right time. It is already the first time that Senegal has hosted an event of this scale, and the same is true for Africa. From a sporting perspective, I think the YOG are a bridge towards Los Angeles 2028. For us, this is an opportunity to prepare our athletes in the various federations.

It is a great opportunity for the federations to have had time to identify talent, provide training and develop the skills of coaches and technical staff, as well as those of the young athletes.

For the federations, we also have new sports that need to be developed, such as futsal. We have Beach Wrestling, which was previously practised in a very informal way, but has now been formalised.

Wrestling is the national sport, even though football is the most popular sport. Traditional wrestling, which is practised on the beaches, has been turned into a competition this year for the YOG. It is a sport that needs to survive, just like futsal.

RFI: We remember that at the Nanjing YOG in 2014, a certain Noah Lyles made his mark and, 10 years later, the American athlete won the Olympic gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Could the Dakar YOG also provide an opportunity to discover future stars?

MD: Yes, I think it will introduce them to competition very early, to the demands of international competition, of theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) and of IOC standards. We must not forget that it is the IOC that organises the Games and applies the same standards as at the Olympic Games.

This prepares the 2,700 athletes who will take part for a future as winners, so to speak, in the competitions to come, whether at world championships or the Olympic Games. Perhaps future record holders will emerge in the coming days.

RFI: So, in effect, this prepares very young Senegalese and African athletes for the highest level?

MD: Yes, exactly — for the highest level, but also for competition itself. Here in Senegal, in particular, we were not accustomed to putting young athletes into competition because of a lack of infrastructure and follow-up.

This is an opportunity to immerse them in competition, but also to continue monitoring their development. And I think competing in an environment — in front of their home crowd — with an organisation that meets the standards of international events will create a sense of emulation among the athletes and even among the more senior athletes ahead of future competitions.

RFI: In terms of sports facilities, what major works has Senegal carried out for these YOG?

MD: I think Senegal has taken an intelligent approach to infrastructure. We did not embark on building new sports facilities. We made use of what we already had.

For example, the Iba Mar Diop athletics stadium has been refurbished and delivered. We also have the Olympic swimming pool, which has been renovated. The Olympic Village will be located at Amadou Mahtar Mbow University.

All these competition facilities already existed and will be able to continue to be used.

RFI: You say that Amadou Mahtar Mbow University, at Diamniadio on the outskirts of Dakar, will host the Olympic Village. But how will all the athletes and spectators be able to travel between Dakar, the Diamniadio site and the international airport?

MD: We have the express regional train, the TER, which connects Dakar to Diamniadio. They have completed the extension works to the airport.

The plan is for athletes competing in Dakar to travel by TER. This will also help avoid creating traffic on the motorway and is faster in terms of travelling time.

RFI: Financially, how has Senegal managed to pay all the suppliers and contractors while it is going through a very serious debt crisis? The debt represents more than 130 percent of its gross domestic product.

MD: Senegal has also signed agreements with financial partners such as the French Development Agency, which contributed to the renovation of various facilities, principally the Olympic swimming pool and the Iba Mar Diop Stadium, but also the equestrian centre.

We have received support from international financial partners, while part of the funding has come from the Senegalese state.

RFI: For 200,000 Senegalese schoolchildren, the Senegalese First Lady's foundation has promised to spend around 500 million CFA francs (€763,000) to pay for their entrance tickets. This is controversial in Dakar. Wouldn't this money have been better spent elsewhere?

MD: Yes, in fact, it is important to understand that the entire 500 million CFA francs will not be allocated to buying tickets.

There are competition venues and celebration venues. The main idea is for all the areas of Dakar to host fan zones and celebration sites. There are joint initiatives involving the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Sports, the city of Dakar, the municipalities of Diamniadio and Saly, and the Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (Cojoj), to organise concerts every day in all the cities.

They have also planned cultural exhibitions, so activities will not be limited to the competition venues. There will be different sites.

To finance these sites, an event was organised at the initiative of the President of the Republic, inviting business leaders and entrepreneurs to contribute to the financing effort.

The First Lady's foundation received donations, which it passed on to the Games and the Youth Olympic Games. And the 200,000 tickets were part of a commitment made by companies and partners, who will purchase those 200,000 tickets.

RFI: I imagine that these YOG are creating thousands of jobs and that this is good news for Senegalese young people. But once they are over on 13 November, won't these young people find themselves unemployed?

MD: That is the question. More than 3,000 young people have been trained and employed, either in direct or indirect jobs, in the professions required to organise the Youth Olympic Games.

The question we will have at the end of the Games is the same one: how will they be deployed afterwards?

I think that is where the state, the National Olympic Committee, ourselves and the federations are considering a plan to redeploy these young people within sports federations, conference centres, hotels and so on.

But that will not be enough. Senegal needs to adopt an approach that attracts major events to Senegal, whatever the sport.

We need to develop this approach to organising sporting events. And not just sporting events, because one of the legacies of the YOG is that we will build up our capacity to host and organise events.

This interview has been adapted from the original version in French by Christophe Boisbouvier.