Ibrahima Wade assures it: "Senegal is ready." Dakar will host the Youth Olympic Games in a year and a half, with the pressure of rise to the occasion of the first multi-sport event of this magnitude to take place in Africa. The general coordinator of the 2026 YOG presented the progress of the preparations before the ANOCA general assembly in Algiers. He wanted to show himself reassuring about meeting deadlines. "When we talk about these major sporting events, often the first instinct is to ask whether the infrastructure will be up to scratch. In the case of Dakar, the big advantage we have is that practically all the infrastructures are up and running », he says to the Journal de Dakar, specifying that the government is in the process of promoting "a number of renovation works" in view of the Games.
"We have made appointments with a number of international federations to organize test events, he adds. Our African peers from other NOCs realize that in terms of the Olympic Village, infrastructure, hotel accommodation, transport plan, accreditation system and arrival in the territory, everything is there. Senegal is ready. (…) We have an extremely clear agenda which reassures them. ANOCA has given its approval and that gives us courage, it encourages us to move forward." There is still work to be done, particularly on the construction site of the Olympic swimming pool. By mid-December, only 15% of the planned work on the site had been completed. All infrastructure must be delivered by December 2025 at the latest.
