Senegal Opens Youth Olympics in Dakar Amidst Economic Scrutiny

The continent of Africa hosts its first Youth Olympic Games, an event that marks a new chapter for the region in international sporting competition. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday evening in Dakar, Senegal.

Approximately 2,700 young athletes, aged between 14 and 17, will participate in the games. Competitions will run through November 13 across three locations: the capital of Dakar, the nearby city of Diamniadio, and the beach resort of Saly. The program includes 153 medal events spread across 25 sports.

New disciplines will make their debut at this level of competition. These include Baseball5, a five-on-five version of baseball played without bats or gloves, and Wushu, a Chinese martial art that can be choreography-based or a combat sport. Coastal rowing beach sprint, which combines beach runs with head-to-head rowing, and beach wrestling will also appear for the first time. Beach wrestling serves as a nod to Senegalese wrestling, the country's national sport.

A first in the history of the Youth Olympics is the inclusion of a refugee team. Six athletes based in Kenya and Uganda will compete in track and field, judo, and taekwondo. The mascot for the games is a young lion named Ayo, which means joy in the Yoruba language spoken in Nigeria and neighboring West African countries.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye will declare the games open at 6:30 p.m. local time at the Diamniadio stadium. International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry is expected to be present, along with several heads of state. Coventry, a Zimbabwean swimming champion, became the IOC's first African and first female president last year. She told media upon arriving in Senegal on Tuesday that it is time for Africa and time for Senegal.

The opening ceremony will feature a spectacle celebrating Senegalese and African culture, adhering to the motto that Africa welcomes and Dakar celebrates. Hundreds of dancers will perform. French actor Omar Sy, who has Senegalese roots and stars in the Netflix series Lupin, is expected to attend. He serves as an ambassador for the games alongside Senegalese Italian TikTok star Khaby Lame.

Senegal initially secured the right to host the games for 2022, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the event by four years. The Youth Olympics are a smaller competition than the Summer Olympics, with Singapore hosting the first summer edition in 2010. The games arrive 130 years after the modern Olympics began in Athens.

Russia's delegation of 13 athletes will compete under its national flag for the first time at an Olympic event since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to its suspension. At the Paris Olympics in 2024 and this year's Winter Olympics, Russian athletes competed as neutrals without national symbols. This shift follows a change in the IOC's approach under Coventry, who stated that the Olympics should not hold athletes accountable for the actions of their governments. This participation may serve as a trial run for a full Russian return at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

The games are unfolding while Senegal grapples with a debt crisis and public frustration over living costs. Billions of dollars in unreported debt from the previous administration have left authorities with limited funds for public spending. Layoffs and rising living costs have fueled protests in recent months. Many Senegalese told reporters they are prioritizing making ends meet over attending the sporting events.

A government-led foundation announced a contribution of 500 million CFA francs, approximately $854,000, to purchase 200,000 tickets for school children. Critics questioned the source of the money, while the president's political movement stated it came from donors and benefactors. President Faye has defended the spending by citing renovated sports facilities, training for young people, and contracts for Senegalese businesses. Sports analyst Frédéric Sohoundé noted that Senegal needs reliable maintenance funding and regular events after the games to prevent its venues from becoming expensive, unused facilities.