Throughout the Olympic Games Paris 2024, representatives from the Organising Committee of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Dakar 2026 gained valuable behind-the-scenes insights into Games-time operations, as they begin finalising their own plans for what will be the next summer Olympic event.
Here, Ibrahima Wade, General Coordinator of the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee, reveals what he and his team were able to learn during Paris 2024, and how it is influencing their preparations for the YOG in the Senegalese capital.
Why was it important for the team from Dakar 2026 to be at the Olympic Games Paris 2024?
Being here in Paris and being part of the Games as the future hosts of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 was very important.
We obviously had the opportunity to participate in a lot of meetings with the IOC and executives from the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, but more important for us was the Observer Programme.
Our team had the opportunity to see what’s happening on-the-ground, and how they can be ready for Dakar 2026. A lot of knowledge was gained during our experience here.
What did you and your team gain from being on-hand to observe Paris 2024?
Being here in Paris was very beneficial because we had the opportunity to see on-the-ground how they deliver the Games, but more importantly, how they planned it very precisely. We got the opportunity to discuss with them how we accelerate our own planning.
And, of course, when we go back to Dakar in the coming days, we are going to accelerate the process of delivering the Games by finalising all our plans.
What are some the key learnings that you and your team have gained from observing the Games?
Being here in Paris, we had the opportunity to gain some key insights. One of the major ones is the mobilisation process they had.
Of course, we are not talking about the same Games. We are in Paris for the Olympic Games, and for Dakar we are talking about the Youth Olympic Games, but it’s important to see how they did it.
And, of course, we were able to acquire some experience in order to implement similar things in Dakar.
Another key area where we have been able to learn here is regarding how the impact in the territories has been possible because of the Games. Of course, we have some plans, but now we’ll be able to define them with more precision.
What are the main priorities as you approach the two-year countdown to the Youth Olympic Games in 2026?
When talking about our priorities when we go back to Dakar, these are going to be in three areas.
The first one will be to focus on the refurbishment work that has been started for venues that require it.
The work has started, but we have to monitor this very precisely in order to make sure that the handover date of December 2025 is achieved, in order to allow us to start the test events.
One other thing that is important is that we have a lot of milestones to reach, and to achieve those milestones we need to now amplify the recruitment process to hire more people, and train the staff for them to deliver. And last, but not least, will be what we have learned in Paris regarding mobilisation – not only of youth, but of the whole population within the country, and other African countries.
Ibrahima Wade – General Coordinator of the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee
What is already being done to mobilise and engage people around Dakar 2026?
We have already started various programmes. The major one is the Dakar en Jeux Festival. We made the choice to start as early as we could, and that’s why we already organised the first edition in 2022 and the second edition in 2023.
The next edition, which is going to be even bigger, will be in November, and we will invite some other African countries to join us.
The festival showed how we can mix sports, education, culture and arts together and make it very attractive for youth.
There are some other programmes too. There is the Brevet Olympique, Civique et Sportif (Olympic, Civic and Sports Certificate), which is putting the Olympic values in schools all over the country, and the Kids’ Olympic Skills programme, which is focused on developing sports at the grassroots level.
What legacy do you hope Dakar 2026 will leave for Senegal and the African continent?
Legacy is very important, because hosting the Games would not make any sense if there were no legacy at the end.
And that’s why we have worked a lot with the IOC on how to put legacy at the heart of the philosophy of the Games.
We already have our sustainability, impact and legacy plan, which focuses on three aspects.
The first one is the social aspect, looking at how the Games can reinforce human rights and take care of the social rights of the entire population that is involved in the process.
The second aspect is environmental sustainability. We have put environmental protection and sustainability at the heart of our activities, and we are working with national stakeholders that are in charge of those issues, like the Minister of the Environment and some other public and private entities, in order to increase the culture of taking care of the environment within the whole country, not only for the Games, but before and after the Games as well.
And the last one is the economic aspect; how to make sure these Games have a positive impact in the local private sector. In Senegal, there are a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises, so we’re looking at how we can make them part of the Games.
These are three major aspects we are monitoring in our legacy programme, and we hope that at the end of the Games, we will have a real impact not only for Senegal, but also all over Africa.
Dakar 2026 recently unveiled its motto for the YOG – Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates – what is the significance of this?
This is an important thing, the motto of Dakar 2026. This will be the first time the Youth Olympic Games have been in Africa.
That’s why we made the choice of this motto, Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates. It’s a good way to show that it’s not just a Games for Dakar; it’s a Games for the world, and the whole of Africa is involved.