Dakar 2026

Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge has been appointed a Global Ambassador for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. The Kenyan distance-running great says he is ready to "give back to the next generation," using the role to inspire young athletes as the Games come to Africa for the first time, with Senegal hosting in Dakar.

Senegalese local figures are publicly supporting the Dakar 2026 Olympic Flame tour as the Youth Olympic Games approach. The Flame relay is part of the build-up to the Games, which will be the first Olympic event held on African soil, and community leaders are being enlisted to build enthusiasm and local engagement across the host country ahead of 2026.

Organisers of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games have detailed what to expect at the ceremony venues along the Flame Tour, the relay taking the Olympic flame through host sites ahead of the Games. The tour will spotlight the venues set to host opening and closing ceremonies as Senegal prepares to become the first African country to stage an Olympic event of this kind.

The Dakar 2026 Flame has been taken to Keur Massar in Senegal, where organisers presented it as a symbol of shared human values ahead of the Youth Olympic Games. The relay forms part of preparations for the Dakar 2026 event, the first Olympic-format Games to be held on African soil, and highlights the host region's role in the buildup.