2026 Summer Youth Olympics

The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics (French: Jeux Olympiques de la jeunesse d'été de 2026), officially known as the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Dakar 2026 (Wolof: Ndakaaru 2026), will be the fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympics, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, in a city designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Originally scheduled to be held for 18 days in Dakar, Senegal, from 22 October to 9 November 2022, it is now scheduled to be held there for 13 days—from 31 October to 13 November 2026,^[1] becoming the first IOC event to be held in Africa.

Games of the IV Youth Olympiad

Location	Dakar, Senegal
Motto	Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates (French: L'Afrique accueille, Dakar célèbre) (Wolof: Afrig dalal, Ndakaaru jëmël)
Athletes	~4,564 (expected)
Events	247 in 36 sports
Opening	31 October 2026
Closing	13 November 2026
Opened by	President Bassirou Diomaye Faye (expected)
Stadium	Diamniadio Olympic Stadium
Summer ← Buenos Aires 2018 2022 2030 → Winter ← Gangwon 2024 2028 →

On 9 December 2014 at the 127th IOC Session it was decided to move the organisation of the YOG to a non-Olympic year, starting with the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games, to be postponed from 2022 to 2023.^[2] Subsequently, the IOC reverted to a 2022 date, and announced in February 2018 that they would be recommending that the event be held in Africa.^[3] The 132nd IOC Session confirmed the change of date back to 2022 on 7 February 2018.^[4] The host was announced at the 133rd IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the 2018 edition.^[5] However, on 15 July 2020, the IOC and Senegalese government agreed to postpone the games to 2026 due to the operational and economical consequences of the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics to July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6][7]

Bidding

Main article: Bids for the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics

The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics on 8 October 2018 at the 133rd IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2022 Youth Olympic Games bidding results

City	Nation	Votes
Dakar	Senegal	Unanimous

Venues and infrastructure

Senegal proposes to organize the 2026 Summer Youth Olympics in three distinct areas, Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.^[8][9]

Dakar

• Dakar Olympic Club – tennis, and other indoor sports existing
• Dakar Olympic Swimming Pool – diving, swimming, 3x3 basketball existing
• Iba Mar Diop Stadium – athletics, beach handball, football, rugby sevens existing
• Dakar National Wrestling Arena – wrestling, and other combat sports / 20,000 existing

Diamniadio

• New Main Stadium – TBA / 50,000 new
• Dakar Arena – indoor sports / 15,000 existing
• Dakar Expo Center (5 halls) – indoor sports new
• Mbow University – TBA new
• Mbow University Youth Olympic Village – Olympic Village, new

Saly

The city of Saly will host water sports, beach sports and golf.

Games

Sports

The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics will feature 247 events in 36 sports. Breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and karate will join the 28 core sports. There will be no mixed team events (NOCs) for the first time, 1 open event (Equestrian), 115 men's events, and 115 women's events.^[9][10][11] Baseball5 and wushu were subsequently added as optional sports.^[12]

In June 2024, the IOC Executive Board approved a new sports program proposed by the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission to better fit it into the local context. An amendment to the program kept 25 of the original 35 sports in the competition program and moved 10 sports to the engagement program. The change also limits each sport to one discipline only, reducing the overall number of athletes while ensuring gender parity.^[13]

• Aquatics
  •  Diving (4) (details)
  •  Swimming (34) (details)
•  Archery (3) (details)
•  Athletics (38) (details)
•  Badminton (3) (details)
•  Baseball5 (1) (details)
•  Basketball (2) (details)
•  Beach handball (2) (details)
•  Beach volleyball (2) (details)
•  Boxing (10) (details)
•  Breaking (2) (details)
•  Cycling (7) (details)
•  Equestrian (1) (details)
•  Fencing (6) (details)
•  Futsal (2) (details)
•  Gymnastics (details)
  •  Artistic gymnastics (12)
  •  Rhythmic gymnastics (2)
•  Judo (8) (details)
•  Rowing (5) (details)
•  Rugby sevens (2) (details)
•  Sailing (6) (details)
•  Skateboarding (2) (details)
•  Table tennis (3) (details)
•  Taekwondo (11) (details)
•  Triathlon (3) (details)
•  Wrestling (18) (details)
•  Wushu (4) (details)

Engagement sports

•  Canoeing (8) (details)
•  Field hockey (2) (details)
•  Golf (3) (details)
•  Karate (6) (details)
•  Modern pentathlon (3) (details)
•  Shooting (6) (details)
•  Sport climbing (2) (details)
•  Surfing (2) (details)
•  Tennis (5) (details)
•  Weightlifting (12) (details)

Media coverage

• North Korea – JTBC^[14]
• South Korea – JTBC^[14]
• Thailand – Plan B^[15]
• Brazil – Grupo Globo^[16]

References

1. "Dates for Dakar 2026 approved by IOC Executive Board". International Olympic Committee. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
2. "Olympic Agenda 2020" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2015.
3. "IOC President Thomas Bach reports on the Youth Olympic Games 2022". International Olympic Committee. 4 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018. the Executive Board wants these youth Olympic Games 2022 to take place in Africa. Therefore, the EB decided today to propose to the session to make the African continent a strong priority ...
4. "132nd International Olympic Committee Session: Day two". insidethegames.biz. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
5. "It's time for Africa - see you in Senegal". International Olympic Committee. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
6. "Senegal and the IOC agree to postpone the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022 to 2026". International Olympic Committee. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
7. "Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games postponed until 2026". www.insidethegames.biz. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
8. "Le Sénégal organisera les Jeux olympiques de la jeunesse 2022" (in French). 8 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
9. "Summer Youth Olympic Games programme at Dakar 2022 featuring 28 core sports set to be confirmed next year". www.insidethegames.biz. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
10. Goh, ZK (4 December 2019). "Dakar 2022 Youth Olympics to feature total gender equality". olympic channel. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
11. International Olympic Committee. "Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022 - Sports and Events Programme" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
12. "Baseball5 and wushu added to Dakar 2022 programme as IOC announce date change". www.insidethegames.biz. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
13. "Evolution of the approach to the sports programme of the Youth Olympic Games – Dakar 2026 first to benefit from it". International Olympic Committee. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
14. "IOC awards 2026-2032 Olympic Games broadcast rights in Korea to JTBC". International Olympic Committee. Olympic.org. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
15. "แพลนบี คว้าสิทธิ์ถ่ายทอดสดโอลิมปิก 2020 ที่ประเทศญี่ปุ่น". Brandinside (in Thai). brandinside.asia. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
16. "IOC reaches agreement for broadcast rights in Brazil with Grupo Globo through to 2032 - Olympic News". International Olympic Committee. 8 July 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2023.

External links

• Dakar 2026. Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.

Preceded by Buenos Aires	Summer Youth Olympic Games Dakar IV Youth Olympiad (2026)	Succeeded by TBA