2026 Summer Youth Olympics


The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics, officially known as the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games and commonly known as Dakar 2026, will be the fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympics, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, in a city designated by the International Olympic Committee. Originally scheduled to be held for 18 days in Dakar, Senegal, from 22 October to 9 November 2022, it is now scheduled to be held there for 13 days—from 31 October to 13 November 2026, becoming the first IOC event to be held in Africa and the first Youth Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Kirsty Coventry.
On 9 December 2014 at the 127th IOC Session it was decided to move the organisation of the YOG to a non-Olympic year, starting with the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games, to be postponed from 2022 to 2023. Subsequently, the IOC reverted to a 2022 date, and announced in February 2018 that they would be recommending that the event be held in Africa. The 132nd IOC Session confirmed the change of date back to 2022 on 7 February 2018. The host was announced at the 133rd IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the 2018 edition.
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Bidding process

Originally scheduled for 2022, the International Olympic Committee decided at its 127th session in Monaco to postpone the organization of the future YOG to a non-Olympic year, namely 2023. However, at the 132nd session held alongside the Pyeongchang 2018 Games, the IOC Executive Board ultimately decided to move the YOG back to 2026.
The IOC voted to select the host city of the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics on 8 October 2018 at the 133rd IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
CityNationVotes
DakarUnanimous

Development and preparations

Organisation

However, on 15 July 2020, the IOC and Senegalese government agreed to postpone the games to 2026 due to the operational and economic consequences of the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics to July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the 141st IOC Session, the committee provided an update, including a detailed schedule for the required upgrades, which are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2024. Infrastructure preparations for the Games remain on track, with refurbishment work launched at key urban venues in Dakar and construction progressing at the equestrian centre and the Youth Olympic Village in Diamniadio. The completed venue master plan includes seven venues across the three host zones that will accommodate competition sites.

Venues and infrastructure

Senegal proposes to organize the 2026 Summer Youth Olympics in three distinct areas, Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.

[Dakar]

All engagement sports will be played in yet to be determined venues in the Corniche West.
VenueEventsCapacity
Complexe Iba Mar DiopAthletics8,000
Complexe Iba Mar DiopBoxingTBA
Complexe Iba Mar DiopFutsal TBA
Complexe Iba Mar DiopRugby sevensTBA
Complexe Tour De L'Œuf3x3 basketballTBA
Complexe Tour De L'ŒufBaseball5TBA
Complexe Tour De L'ŒufBreakingTBA
Complexe Tour De L'ŒufSkateboardingTBA
Complexe Tour De L'ŒufSwimmingTBA
Corniche WestRoad cyclingTBA

The Games

Sports

The 2026 Summer Youth Olympics will feature 154 events in 25 sports. Breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and karate will join the 21 core sports. There will be no mixed team events for the first time, 1 open event, 77 men's events, and 77 women's events. Baseball5 and wushu were subsequently added as optional sports.
In June 2024, the IOC Executive Board approved a new sports program proposed by the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission to better fit it into the local context. An amendment to the program kept 25 of the original 35 sports in the competition program and moved 10 sports to the engagement program. The change also limits each sport to one discipline only, reducing the overall number of athletes while ensuring gender parity. The events and athlete quotas were confirmed on 3 December 2024.

Competition programme

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Engagement programme

The number of events listed for sports in the engagement programme are not listed by the IOC, but are included here for reference purposes.
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