Senegal hosts Africa’s first Youth Olympic Games — France 24

The Youth Olympic Games are starting in Senegal — the first Olympic competition on the African continent. About 2,700 athletes aged 14 to 17 will take part in the tournament in Dakar, neighboring Diamniadio and the resort city of Saly. The competitions will run until November 13, France 24 reports.

153 medal events in 25 sports

Young athletes will compete for 153 sets of medals in 25 sports, including athletics, swimming and 3x3 basketball. The Youth Olympics program has for the first time included Baseball5 — a version of baseball played without bats and gloves — the Chinese martial art of wushu, and beach sprint coastal rowing, which combines running on the beach with rowing races.

Beach wrestling competitions will also be held at the Youth Olympic Games for the first time. This sport is connected with Senegalese wrestling, which is considered a national sport in the country and is also held on sand.

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Opening ceremony in Diamniadio

The opening ceremony is scheduled at the stadium in Diamniadio. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is expected to declare the Games open; International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry and the heads of several states are also expected to attend the event. The ceremony’s program includes performances by hundreds of dancers dedicated to Senegalese and African culture.

The Games’ ambassadors are French actor Omar Sy, who is of Senegalese descent, and TikToker Khaby Lame. The competition’s mascot is a young lion named Ayo wearing a traditional Fulbe headdress. His name means “joy” in Yoruba.

A refugee team will also make its debut at the Games: six athletes based in Kenya and Uganda will compete in athletics, judo and taekwondo. Dakar was originally set to host the 2022 Youth Olympics, but the competition was postponed by four years due to the coronavirus pandemic.