Dakar 2026: Africa hosts its first Olympic Games, with 19 Nigerians competing
Kenya’s girls make rugby sevens history, Senegal strike gold on the beach, and Team Nigeria chase a first medal.
By SitesNG Sports Desk · · 2 min read
Africa’s first Olympic Games are under way. Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye opened the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games at Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio on Saturday 31 October. About 2,700 athletes aged 14 to 17 compete in 25 sports and 153 events across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly until 13 November.
“This is the Africa that I am so proud and so excited for the world to experience.”
IOC President Kirsty Coventry
Team Nigeria
Nigeria sent 19 athletes (12 women, 7 men) in athletics, swimming, table tennis, beach volleyball, boxing and road cycling. Sprinter Rosemary Chigozie Nwankwo carried the flag. Beach volleyball pair Pamela Bawa and Joy Lawrence lost to Japan, then beat Egypt 2-0; in table tennis Matthew Kuti beat Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli 3-1, while Favour Ojo went out to Egypt’s Yara Elbadawy. No Nigerian medal had been reported by 10 November.
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“We’re targeting gold here in Dakar but just reaching the podium will be historic for us.”
Pamela Bawa, to FIVB
African golds
After the first week Egypt had four golds and South Africa one gold, three silvers and a bronze. Kenya became the first African nation to win Youth Olympic women’s rugby sevens, and Madagascar took bronze for their first Olympic medal. On 7 November in Saly, Elizabeth Diatta and Maguette Diop won Senegal’s first golds, in beach wrestling.
Read Nigeria’s full Olympic story on our Olympic Games page.
Reporting by the SitesNG Sports Desk, based on reports from EWN (AFP), Federal Ministry of Information, Daily Trust, FIVB, Africanews, Benin Web TV. Published 7 November 2026 in the African Sports News weekly edition of 10 November 2026.
