How Olympic Solidarity is helping prepare the next generation for Dakar 2026
With 100 days to go until the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the impact of Olympic Solidarity's Youth Athlete Development programme can already be seen across Africa. Through initiatives delivered in the lead-up to the Games, the programme is supporting young athletes and coaches from African National Olympic Committees (NOCs), reflecting the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s long-term commitment to helping the next generation of athletes reach their potential.
Key facts
- Olympic Solidarity has expanded investment in youth programmes ahead of Dakar 2026, with a particular focus on African NOCs.
- Since 2025, 105 initiatives have been delivered in Africa, supporting 14,958 athletes and 719 coaches across 52 NOCs.
- International Federations (IFs) are delivering initiatives across Africa, supporting athletes, coaches and the wider sports ecosystem.
Investment in youth athlete development in Africa
Ahead of Dakar 2026, the IOC, through Olympic Solidarity, has expanded investment in youth programmes, focusing in particular on African NOCs. Since 2025, nearly USD 10 million from the Youth Athlete Development budget has already been allocated, with initiatives in Africa receiving 39 per cent of the programme funding distributed to date. This investment has contributed to 105 initiatives from 52 NOCs since 2025, reaching 14,958 athletes and 719 coaches across the continent.
Collaboration in action
Through the YAD programme, Olympic Solidarity is working with International Federations (IFs) and NOCs across Africa to support young athletes in the lead-up to Dakar 2026, while taking a long-term approach to development. This includes investment in coaching, athlete entourage initiatives, continental-level events and the development of national sport systems.
One example is FIBA's 3x3 Elite Youth Training Camp in Dakar. Designed to raise the level of the 3x3 game in Africa in time for Dakar 2026, the camp brought together young players from Algeria, Egypt, Kenya and host nation Senegal, while also improving the skills and knowledge of coaches, referees and table officials. Several participating teams have since secured qualification for Dakar 2026.
All key stakeholders – players, coaches, referees, and table officials – were trained together, recognising their interdependence. The integrated approach ensured consistency, efficiency and overall quality of competition, highlighting the importance of raising technical expertise among officials alongside players.
World Athletics has adopted a similarly holistic approach through its Africa Youth Athlete Development Project, which is helping to prepare young athletes for Dakar 2026 while also strengthening coaching capacity across the continent.
Since 2025, the initiative has brought together participants from across Africa in Dakar and Nairobi through education workshops for coaches and training camps for athletes. By running the two programmes alongside each other, World Athletics creates a collaborative learning environment combining technical athletics training with education on safeguarding, anti-doping, nutrition, personal branding and long-term athlete development.
Participating coaches then take this knowledge back to their own countries, delivering athlete education and development activities that extend the programme's reach beyond the camp itself. In Botswana, for example, coaches who attended the programme later delivered an Olympic Solidarity-supported workshop for more than 30 youth athletics coaches.
Olympic Solidarity has also supported United World Wrestling's Regional Education and Development Tournament (REDT) in Guinea-Bissau, bringing together 10 national federations from across West Africa as part of the preparations for Dakar 2026.
Designed as a multi-dimensional development platform, the REDT combined education, capacity building and competition. Alongside the tournament, participants took part in a training camp for wrestlers, education sessions for coaches and administrators, and a refereeing course, helping to strengthen technical standards while building the capacity of the participating national federations.
A global youth programme
The support being delivered across Africa is part of Olympic Solidarity’s wider YAD programme, which works with IFs and NOCs to support young athletes.
For the 2025-2028 Olympiad, the budget allocated specifically to the YAD programme has increased to USD 19.5 million, up from USD 14 million in the previous four-year cycle. Since 2025, the YAD programme has supported 279 initiatives across 159 NOCs worldwide, reaching 44,311 athletes and 2,837 coaches.
The YAD programme is one of a range of initiatives delivered through Olympic Solidarity available to all NOCs, with a particular focus on supporting athletes and NOCs most in need. For the 2025-2028 Olympiad, Olympic Solidarity has a budget of USD 650 million to support NOCs in developing athletes, coaches and sports administrators around the world.
Learn more about Olympic Solidarity
This investment is part of the IOC’s wider approach to supporting athletes and other Olympic Movement stakeholders. As an international non-governmental not-for-profit organisation that works entirely for global sport, the IOC, by its nature, takes no profit from its revenues. It redistributes these revenues to the Olympic Movement stakeholders (Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, IFs and NOCs/Olympic Solidarity) and recognised organisations (WADA, the ITA and ICAS). The IOC also supports the International Paralympic Committee. As part of the Fit for the Future strategic framework, the IOC has also announced the new Fit for the Future Olympian Grant, which will make every Olympian eligible for USD 10,000, starting with Milano Cortina 2026.