OBS expands coverage and introduces new production initiatives at Dakar 2026
From 31 October to 13 November, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) will deliver more than 500 hours of coverage across all 25 competition sports at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), including live coverage of 22 sports. Expanded competition coverage, innovative production approaches, virtualised operations and AI-supported workflows will provide Media Rights-Holders (MRHs) more ways to broadcast the YOG to their audiences.
OBS will cover all 25 competition sports through an estimated 507 hours of HD 1080p SDR coverage, using 64 camera systems, including two drones, and 100 microphones. Compared with Buenos Aires 2018, OBS will deliver approximately 25 per cent more live coverage across the sports featured in both editions of the YOG.
OBS will employ a range of approaches, from full multi-camera productions to basic three-camera coverage and enhanced single-camera coverage, complemented by dedicated highlights services. Major competitions including athletics, swimming, artistic gymnastics, beach volleyball, beach handball, beach wrestling and futsal will receive full multi-camera coverage. Enhanced single-camera productions, first introduced at selected sports during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, have been expanded for Dakar 2026 to include live English commentary and graphics.
Dakar 2026 is an opportunity to bring more of the Youth Olympic Games to audiences worldwide, building on the evolution of OBS’s coverage and delivery. With expanded competition coverage, innovative production approaches and greater operational flexibility, we will offer Media Rights-Holders more opportunities to connect their audiences with the young athletes, stories and spirit of Africa's first Olympic sporting event.
Bringing audiences closer to the Games
Worldwide Olympic Partner Samsung will support live coverage of skateboarding and taekwondo with Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphones, complementing conventional cameras with additional athlete-focused and field-of-play perspectives. A bonding solution combining cabled Ethernet and 5G connectivity will support the live production workflow. The devices will also be used to create vertical content on and off the field of play.
Short-form content produced in collaboration with Olympics.com will complement this coverage with stories about athletes, competition, Dakar’s culture and life inside the Youth Olympic Village. OBS will also deploy speciality camera systems, including track cameras for athletics and swimming; robotic underwater cameras for swimming; a two-point cable camera system for the Opening Ceremony; and drones for the Opening and Closing Ceremony and selected competitions.
In collaboration with Worldwide Olympic Partner TCL, OBS will also test Rayneo Glasses at Dakar 2026 to explore their potential for content collection.
Daily sport highlights and mixed zone interviews with medallists will provide MRHs with additional content to complement their coverage.
Dakar 2026 offers us the opportunity to showcase more athletes, more sports and more stories than ever before. Our goal is to capture the full YOG experience, both on and off the field of play.
A more flexible broadcast operation
Dakar 2026 will distribute production, technical operations and content workflows across the host city; OBS and OCS headquarters in Madrid; and cloud-based environments. The operation will involve 539 host broadcast staff, with 67 per cent based on site in Dakar and 33 per cent working remotely from Madrid.
Remote workflows will include directing, production and audio quality control for most competitions, as well as commentary, archive and logging operations, highlights production and social media content editing.
A key milestone is a fully virtualised Master Control Room (MCR), the first to be deployed at an Olympic event. Rather than relying on dedicated broadcast equipment at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), core MCR functions will run in a cloud-based, software-defined environment supported by Worldwide Olympic Partner Alibaba and operated remotely from Madrid.
At Dakar 2026, OBS is bringing together a range of developments that are transforming host broadcasting, from virtualised operations and remote production to software-based audio and production systems. The first fully virtualised Master Control Room deployed at an Olympic event is an important milestone in this shift towards more flexible and efficient broadcast operations.
The same approach extends to audio. OBS will pioneer a hardware-less production model that replaces much of the traditional audio infrastructure with software-based and cloud-enabled workflows. Most audio monitoring, control and quality control will be managed remotely from Madrid, while the team on-site focuses on microphone deployment, management and essential operational support.
Worldwide Olympic Partner OMEGA will also operate its timing, results and graphics services for most sports remotely, marking the first use of this workflow in an Olympic or Youth Olympic Games broadcast production.
Beyond remote services, Worldwide Olympic Partner TCL will provide display technology across key operational areas in Dakar and at OBS headquarters in Madrid, supporting content viewing, operational workflows and production coordination.
Together, these developments demonstrate how a more distributed, software-based broadcast model can support expanded coverage while increasing flexibility and reducing reliance on physical infrastructure.
How AI will support host broadcast operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) will support content creation and production workflows at Dakar 2026, including automated highlights, audio mixing and content discovery.
Automated highlights will be generated for 16 of the 25 competition sports, helping make key moments available quickly for use across broadcast, digital and social platforms. AI-assisted audio mixing will continuously optimise the balance between commentary and the International Sound across programme feeds, under the supervision of broadcast specialists.
In collaboration with Worldwide Olympic Partner Alibaba, OBS will expand the use of Automatic Media Description (AMD) technology, which uses AI to analyse content and generate descriptions, keywords, transcripts and summaries. These capabilities help production teams search, manage and retrieve content more efficiently.
Alongside these applications, OBS will test further AI applications, including a proof-of-concept exploring how AI can support the programming and operation of continuous Olympic broadcast channels.
As the volume of content continues to grow, AI is helping us organise, understand and deliver content more effectively. At Dakar 2026, OBS will apply AI to select workflows, including highlights production and audio mixing, while exploring further applications such as channel programming. This will provide us valuable experience in understanding where these technologies can support broadcast operations at future Olympic Games.
Developing future broadcast talent
Dakar 2026 will also create opportunities for the next generation of broadcast and media professionals. Through the Youth Broadcast Experience programme, 38 students and recent graduates from Senegal and neighbouring African countries will work alongside OBS teams during the YOG, gaining hands-on experience across host broadcast roles.
The programme forms part of the wider legacy of Dakar 2026, helping create opportunities and develop practical skills among staff that can continue to have an impact long after the Games have concluded.
More information about host broadcast operations at Dakar 2026 can be found in the OBS Media Guide.
Media enquiries
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