00:00The countdown is on in Senegal. IOC President Kirstie Coventry has toured the Youth Olympic Village in Dakar just two
00:08days before the start of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
00:13Final preparations are now underway as the host nation gets ready to host 2,700 young athletes from around the
00:21world.
00:21From October 31st to November 13th, they'll compete in 35 sports across Dakar, Diame Nia, Dio and Sali.
00:31Everyone is ready to go. Their final touches are being put to place and the venues, as we said earlier,
00:41are looking really, really wonderful.
00:44The village and the athletes, the excitement is building up.
00:48Dakar 2026 Chief Mamadou Diangaye says he's delighted to see young athletes connecting and building friendships ahead of the competition.
00:59The youth, it's fabulous because they will discover each other, exchange phone numbers, they will be together.
01:05As I've always said, it's not victory or death, it's victory in life because we are together.
01:11This is how we should see things, it's not a war.
01:17Originally scheduled for 2022, the Youth Olympic Games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:24Now history is being made. Dakar becomes the first African city to host an Olympic event.
01:30First launched in Singapore in 2010, the Youth Olympics bring together athletes aged 15 to 18
01:36in a celebration of sporting talent, friendship and the Olympic spirits.
