“Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates”. It is under this slogan that Senegal will officially launch the Youth Olympic Games on Saturday October 31, the first Olympic event in history on the African continent. Scheduled for 2022 but postponed following the coronavirus crisis, these YOG should allow Africa to take a step forward in hosting sporting events.
The marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, the sprinter Letsile Tebogo, or even the swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who became president of the International Olympic Committee... "Africa has brought so many great champions and great champions", underlines Christophe Dubi, director of the Olympic Games at the IOC. But the Olympic movement waited until 2026 to settle down. "These YOG are very symbolic, because it is the demonstration of a capacity to welcome in addition to producing great athletes", continues the Swiss leader.
“Africa is one of the continents most represented at the Summer Olympics in terms of number of athletes, and has been since colonial independence,” notes Pascal Charitas, historian specializing in sport in Africa. In this context, "Olympism could not call itself universal as long as an entire continent remained outside the map of host countries, affirms Olivia Nloga, executive director of the promotion of the Dakar 2026 brand. With these YOG, this historical anomaly ends".
The event is all the more symbolic as it is aimed at young people, and as it will be held on the continent with the closest demographic. "Senegal applied with a simple conviction: these Games should be held where the world's youth are. Half of Senegal's population is under 19, and three out of four Senegalese are under 35. Today, 28% of the world's under-25s live in Africa; by 2100, that will be nearly one in two young people. The YOG looked like us, and the Olympic movement cannot build its future without this continent,” adds Olivia Nloga.
Africa favored in athlete applications and quotas
Senegal thus succeeds Singapore, which hosted the first Summer YOG in 2010, China, which was host in Nanjing in 2014, then Buenos Aires, scene of the event in 2018. "At the origin of the YOG, there was the idea of entrusting the organization to countries which do not necessarily wish to host the Olympic Games", explains Christophe Dubi. The last African bid to host the Olympics dates back to 1997, with South Africa applying for the 2004 Games, ultimately awarded to Athens.
There had been no more African candidacies since then, and the IOC had chosen to favor African files for the 2022 YOG, postponed to 2026. "The lighter organization, but still complex, had convinced four countries", notes Christophe Dubi: Botswana, Nigeria, Tunisia and therefore Senegal.
"We accept Africa, but we are taking it slowly. These are only the Youth Olympic Games, tempers Pascal Charitas. Giving the YOG to Africa is giving a signal to African youth by showing them that they are welcome, but we are not undertaking an event as strategic as the Olympic Games. We are starting with something which, if it goes badly, will have a lower cost in the media and symbolically. Hosting an event which would be too heavy would not be a gift from the IOC chaired by Kirsty Coventry, first African president of the body.
The YOG will adapt to the local context, with fewer events (151 compared to 241 in Buenos Aires) and therefore fewer athletes (2700 compared to nearly 4000 in Buenos Aires). And for these 2,700 athletes, "the qualification systems have been designed so that this first event on the African continent benefits the African continent in the first place. We will therefore have smaller delegations for countries that we see ultra-dominant during the Olympic Games", affirms Christophe Dubi.
The idea is to give these young African athletes an opportunity to take that first step towards international sport. It is a clear path towards continental and world championships and possibly the Olympic Games.
Christophe Dubi
at franceinfo:sport
Senegal, at home, has 136 athletes. France, which, notably via the French Development Agency, lent 85 million euros to Senegal for these YOG, and which will participate in securing the event, has the second delegation, with 69 athletes. China, which invests massively in Africa, has 66. For comparison, the United States only sends 29 athletes, fewer than Morocco (39) or Kenya (42).
Infrastructure that should serve the Senegalese
Beyond this sporting issue, these YOG are important for the continent "to make itself visible and attractive", according to Pascal Charitas. “Most African countries were born on borders that were drawn by colonists, and it was necessary to bring together very different ethnic groups behind the same flag, the same identity. An event of this magnitude makes it possible to create attachment, a national feeling, but also employment,” continues the historian.
"Senegal is a country which lives from tourism and which needs to diversify its attractions at the economic level. The country will show its reception capacities, its logistics, its organization, its transport, its security. This goes beyond the framework of sport. It is also to show other French-speaking African countries that the country stands out, stands out from the crowd, and to speak to the countries of the Maghreb, notably Morocco, to show that we too can and we know how to do it", affirms Pascal Charitas.
The fact remains that among the Senegalese people, enthusiasm is not yet at its peak. In the week preceding the opening of the YOG, many even took part in a general strike to demand improvements in working conditions in certain public sectors. The question of inheritance, from which the Senegalese hope to benefit, is essential. In Dakar, only one site has completely emerged from the ground: the equestrian center, which will be managed in the future by the national gendarmerie.
For the rest, the Dakar Arena (badminton and futsal) and the Dakar Expo Center (fencing, boxing, table tennis, judo, wushu) already existed, as did the Abdoulaye Wade stadium, inaugurated in 2022. The Tour de l'Oeuf complex, which will notably host swimming, has seen its Olympic swimming pool completely renovated. And the abandoned Iba Mar Diop stadium has been transformed, notably with a multi-sport hall. The Olympic village, quite basic in terms of rooms (not air-conditioned), is located on a university campus and will benefit students after the YOG.
"There was a major issue regarding very beautiful infrastructures, like Iba Mar Diop, but more maintained, where we could maintain sports infrastructures in the city center thanks to the YOG, which is not easy with promoters. And this will allow athletes to practice their discipline in the center of Dakar", supports Christophe Dubi. Senegal also took advantage of these YOG to extend its TER section to Blaise-Diagne international airport.
The IOC also welcomes a training program for 300 young people in the field of sports management. “It’s human heritage in terms of sports organization,” maintains the executive director of the Olympic Games. “There are also 6,000 volunteers, who will have had a unique experience, and our public security and transport services will have acquired know-how in organizing major events,” says Oliva Nloga. “It is a message to the world: Africa is not only a land of talents, it knows how to organize, welcome and unite.”
The IOC will be sure to take notes. "We see what needs to be imported from outside. This is always the case in the context of the Olympics, but it is a question of quantity. What can the continent provide or not? Because in terms of logistics, but also financial impact, it is a factor of additional complexity, but which can be manageable. So we will draw a lot of observations which will be useful to us in the South African file for the upcoming Olympics", promises Christophe Dubi.
