MILAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Preparations for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) have entered the delivery phase, with venue construction and operational readiness advancing in the Games year, Humphrey Kayange, chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for the YOG Dakar 2026, said here on Thursday.
"For us at the coordination level, we just updated this week to the IOC Session in terms of the progress, and it's really exciting and positive in terms of how the project is moving," Kayange said. "We have a really tight deadline. Our next coordination commission meeting is at the end of March, and that gives us a good window to look at how far things are."
Scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 13, Dakar 2026 will be the first Olympic sports event held on African soil, bringing together around 2,700 young athletes aged up to 17 across three host zones: Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.
The Olympic flame will arrive on the African continent in September.
"By the end of September, we have to put on a show that not only reflects where Senegalese are in terms of the sports scene and infrastructure, but also where the Olympic Movement will be in terms of the Games," Kayange said.
Ibrahima Wade, general coordinator of the Organizing Committee for the YOG Dakar 2026, said that service assurance related to arrival and departure, visas, accommodation, catering and security is being advanced in close coordination with relevant authorities.
"We've got them all ready for the Games," Wade said. "We want the whole world to come and experience this very different Games being on the African continent for the first time." ■
