USA Swimming will not send a team to the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. A spokesperson said that the decision came down to Junior Team resource allocation and prioritization.
2026 will mark the return of the event after an eight year hiatus. Dakar was originally scheduled to host the 2022 Youth Olympics, but their bid was delayed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
It is unclear yet whether USOPC will attempt to form a team outside of USA Swimming, which US-IUSF did when USA swimming opted out of the 2022 World University Games, but USA Swimming says they aren’t aware of any such effort.
The swimming dates and venue for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games were recently announced. Swimming will be held from November 1-6 at the Egg Tower Complex in Dakar, which is being rebuilt for the Games. The 10-lane competition pool will have seating for 562 spectators.
The format of the Youth Olympic Games is different than most major international meets. Countries are allowed to send four male and four female swimmers: just enough to fill out relays. This generally keeps any one country from dominating with depth.
USA Swimming historically prioritized other meets, like the Pan Pac and Junior Pan Pacs, over the Youth Olympic Games, which means they have not sent their fastest eligible juniors to the meet. In total, the U.S. has won 8 medals in swimming at the Youth Olympic Games: 4 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze. Their most successful performance came in 2014, where Hannah Moore led the way with a pair of gold medals and Clara Smiddy added another.
At the most recent edition, Rhyan White was the only American medal winner, taking bronze in the girls’ 100 back in 1:00.60. She went on to be a (senior) Olympian representing the U.S. in Tokyo in 2021, where she won silver as a prelims leg of the 400 medley relay.
The Youth Olympics have been a crucial pathway for a number of big names from other countries. That includes Australian Kaylee McKeown, who has 5 gold and 9 total Olympic medals. In 2018, she won the 50 backstroke, took silver in the 100 backstroke, and bronze in the 200 backstroke at the Youth Olympic Games.
Australia has also not announced any criteria for the Youth Olympic Games, though they have not said whether they would field a team or not alongside a planned team at Junior Pan Pacs from August 17-20 in Vancouver, Canada.
Thomas Ceccon of Italy, Kristof Milak of Hungary, and Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia all also won gold at the 2018 edition before going on to become some of the world’s best swimmers at the senior level.
Changes to the 2026 Games
The IOC and its new President Kirsty Coventry took the pause as an opportunity to reset the Youth Olympic Games.
“Adopting a tailored approach to the sports programme for the Youth Olympic Games allows us to ensure that each edition is uniquely aligned with the host context and needs,” said Coventry in 2024, when she was an IOC Member and Chair of the Coordination Commission for the YOG Dakar 2026.
“This flexibility not only enhances the relevance and appeal of the YOG but also fosters innovation and engagement. We are excited to see how this new model will enrich the experience for all participants and spectators at Dakar 2026 and beyond.”
That included limiting each “sport” to one discipline (swimming is a ‘discipline’ of aquatics). The athlete quota reduces the field from about 4,000 athletes to an anticipated quota of 2,700, equally balanced between boys and girls.
The program has also been reduced from 239 events in 32 sports to 153 in 25 sports. While the exact event-by-event schedule has not been released for swimming yet, that makes it unlikely that swimming will carry the full program that it had in previous editions.
That schedule includes 73 events for boys, 73 events for girls, and seven mixed events.
The age range has also been shifted downward. In previous editions, the age range was 15-18, but in 2026, that range is lowered to 14-17.
The 25 competition sports are athletics (track and field), aquatics (swimming), archery, badminton, baseball (baseball5), basketball (3×3), boxing, breaking, cycling (road cycling), equestrian (jumping), fencing, football (futsal), gymnastics (artistic gymnastics), handball (beach handball), judo, rowing (coastal rowing), rugby (rugby sevens), sailing, skateboarding (street), table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball (beach volleyball), wrestling (beach wrestling) and wushu.
The 10 engagement sports, meaning sports showcased through both on the ground and digital activities for Dakar 2026 are canoe-kayak, golf, hockey, karate, modern pentathlon, shooting, sport climbing, surfing, tennis and weightlifting.
The IOC has also removed many road and beach events to ‘reduce complexity and city impact’ caused by needing to shut down public spaces for competition.
Dakar looks like a beautiful city by the ocean. Would love to visit!
Reducing events and quotas in general I think is negative and will translate in less interest from the public and athelrts. If the IOC thinks that’s the way to go they are going to be disapoointed. Just look at all Asia almost preferring the Asian Games (and sometimes the Chinese Games) instead of the Olympics.
Going smaller and with less athletes will problably be the end of Olympics. They should go bigger and with more sports and more days. And don’t have all the people at the same time at the village. Rotate them after they finished competing.
I think a prudential ‘pruning back’ of events is, in general, a good thing. More competition in slightly fewer events would, I think, improve the overall performances over time. When one has the 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, etc. it seems overwhelmingly bloated.
Multi-sport events are finding it harder and harder to find hosts, the upcoming Commonwealth Games are a good example. Events like these are expensive and always seem to overshoot original cost estimates. Added to this, one has to wonder what purpose the YOG serves that isn’t already being addressed by other smaller regional competitions. There is no shortage of multi-sport events countries are eligible to participate in. Individual sports as well have numerous world events to choose from. Does the YOG fill a need? I don’t think so.
This is good news. Develop the young talent and have them ready for Pan Pacs!
The Olympics is the youth Olympics: “I declare the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad Paris 2024 closed. In accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Los Angeles, United States of America, to celebrate with all of us the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad.” – IOC President Thomas Bach
Is Australia sending a team
No indication of it. They haven’t published selection procedures. I reached out to ask.
Don’t really understand what the IOC is trying to do with the youth Olympics.
Have another event for countries to bribe them the rights to host.
Genuinely, it’s not for ‘you.’
It’s two primary purposes are this:
1) To engage with a different part of the world that is kind of on the fringes of the Olympic movement
2) To test new sports and events and formats to better engage the younger generation in the Olympic movement. Lots of Olympic sports get test runs in the Youth Olympics, like breaking.
It’s way cheaper to put on the YOGs than the Olympics, and they can be held in places like Dakar that are 2,500 miles from the nearest place capable of hosting the Olympics. Gives them a foothold, gives them a way to engage places like Africa and bring them further into the Olympic movement, expands… Read more »
Disappointing but Senegal as a host country seems sketchy at best
Why?
(I’ve been there.)
Senegal as host country seems sketchy because you’re familiar with Senegal and now it to be a dangerous place? Or because it’s in Africa it must be sketchy?
Crime is relatively low in Senegal
Here’s Dakar: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Dakar
Here’s Philadelphia, where I live: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/in/Philadelphia
Here’s a world crime ranking. You’ll note Senegal having a lower crime index than the United States, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Serbia, China, UAE, and Italy.
Here’s a reddit conversation about crime in Dakar: https://www.reddit.com/r/Senegal/comments/1dcs5ii/is_dakar_really_that_unsafe/
I got downvoted. You get upvoted. Sigh…
😂
Did you know when they have a dust storm in the Senegal the minerals are kicked up into the atmosphere and then the jet stream brings them west across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida which helps to provide magnificent sunsets some of the best in the world all because of this anomaly
They do! Although it’s the trade winds that transport it not the jet stream (which flows west to east).
Sketchy…being gay in Senegal is illegal and people report violence against LBGT+ people and zero protections from the government. Still. In 2026. If it’s dangerous for gay people then it’s dangerous, period.
True, but I mean they hosted a senior Football World Cup, the biggest sporting event after the Olympics, in Qatar, so obviously they don’t really care.
Which is horrible, but here we are.
THANK YOU for responding with FACTS. In today’s environment, people from western countries just want to say racist stuff without saying they’re saying racist stuff. Glad you shut it down here but then, here they come with gay bashing Senegal, again, no facts. I appreciate you standing up for truth.
Don’t visit philly, got it.
I’ve lived here 6 years and I’ve only been stabbed like twice it’s fine bro.
The country with a very competitive men’s association football (soccer) team.
If this was a swimming only event it would make less sense as a choice, but with it being a multi sport event and one of the goals being to engage countries that are less involved with the Olympics makes more sense. I’d be curious to see the swimming facilities for the event.