Reporting by Torrey Hart contributed to this article.
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Committee (YOGC) has broken ground on many of the facilities that will be utilized during the 2026 YOG including the Tour de I’Oeuf Complex which houses the swimming venue.
The committee decided to rebuild the existing I’Oeuf Complex because the existing facility reportedly had many defects and design flaws that made the committee deem it unfit for the competition.
The facility will also play host to a FINA scholarship training center.
The new renovated facility will have:
- 2,050 seats available
- A 10 lane Competition Pool with 562 seats (50M x 25M x 2M)
- A 6 lane outdoor training pool 800 seats (25M x 15M x 1.55M)
- A Diving Pool/Well with 688 seats (16M x 16M x 4.54M)
- The facility will also have an OMEGA Timing System
The Youth Olympic Games in Dakar were originally scheduled for 2022, but have been postponed until 2026. The Coordination Commission held a meeting on October 15th in order to take stock of the progress on the first sports development initiatives in Senegal.
“The postponement of Dakar 2022 allows the IOC, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Federations (IFs) to better plan their activities, which have been strongly affected by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, by the subsequent postponements of major international sports events, and by the operational and financial consequences of the global health crisis,” the IOC Executive Board wrote in an announcement.
“At the same time, it allows Senegal to carry on the excellent preparations for the Youth Olympic Games. The two leaders, who praised the progress made so far, have jointly renewed their confidence in Dakar 2022 President Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, IOC Member in Senegal, and both remain fully committed to the great success of these Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever to be organized in Africa.”
The Dakar 2026 YOG suppliers and the committees have made strategic choices for recycling and the re-use of certain supports rather than simply producing new ones.
The total cost of the complex renovations is still unknown, as the call for bids for the rebuild will happen at the end of 2021.
FINA Centers provide training opportunities for athletes from less-developed nations via the FINA Scholarship program. The addition of these facilities is the IOC’s hope of helping provide these structures and environments to national federations who may otherwise be unable to provide them.
- The FINA center will include:
- 20 Bedrooms
- A Gym and Strength and Conditioning room
- Meeting rooms
- A Restaurant
- Free WiFi
- Recreation and a TV
- A Laundry and Cleaning Service.
Kirsty Coventry, the Chair of the Coordination Commission and Olympic Gold Medalist i said:
“The new calendar offers unprecedented opportunities for Senegal and Africa. These first Games in Africa will be exemplary in a number of ways. The pre-Games phase will identify opportunities to boost the Senegalese sports sector ahead of the YOG. Games legacy preparations are already underway through concrete action on the ground.”
With the unanimous support of the Coordination Committee members, Dakar will begin their first initiatives on the ground in the first half of 2022. The committee has formed a task force made up of teams from the ICO, Dakar 2026, and the local stakeholders (Senegalese Ministries of Youth, Sport, and Education) to identify what activities they should begin working on in the new year.
