Senegal and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have decided, by mutual agreement, to postpone, to 2026, the youth Olympic games initially scheduled for Dakar in 2022, reports the IOC on its official website on Wednesday.
The agreement was approved today by the IOC Executive Board and will be submitted for ratification to the IOC Session on Friday July 17, 2020, said the same source.
“President Macky Sall’s proposal was indeed welcomed by Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, after in-depth discussions on the subject. This postponement meets the requirement of responsibility and the concern for efficiency that current circumstances demand, ”writes the Olympic body.
In a press release, the same source underlines that “the postponement of Dakar 2022 allows the IOC, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Federations (IFs) to better plan their activities, strongly affected by the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games , the subsequent postponements of major international sports competitions as well as the operational and financial consequences of the global health crisis ”.
Quoted in the press release, IOC President Thomas Bach said that “this amicable agreement reflects the mutual trust between Senegal and the IOC. I would like to express my sincere thanks to President Macky Sall, a great friend and supporter of the Olympic Movement, for this exceptional relationship of trust and quality ”.
“For all these reasons, I am sure that together we will organize brilliant Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games for Senegal, the whole of the African continent and all the young athletes of the world”, he added. .
For his part, the Senegalese Head of State reiterated to the IOC its unreserved support for the organization of the Youth Olympic Games, postponed to 2026, saying he would take the opportunity to renew his confidence in the Executive Board and salute the commitment of its teams, alongside Senegal, “to make Dakar 2026, the first Olympic event in Africa, a success that will be remembered”.
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