Dakar 2026: President Bassirou Diomaye Faye receives the Olympic flame at the Palace

The flame of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will be officially received in Senegal this Saturday, September 12, 2026.

The President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, will preside over the ceremony scheduled from 10 a.m. in front of the gates of the Palais de la République, on Avenue Léopold Sédar Senghor.

Arriving from Athens, the historic cradle of the Olympics, the Olympic flame begins a new stage of its journey in Africa. His reception by the Head of State constitutes a major symbolic moment in the preparation of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games which will be held from October 31 to November 13.

This ceremony comes a few weeks before this unprecedented event, which will make Senegal the first African country to host an Olympic event. Dakar 2026 must bring together the world’s sporting youth around the values ​​supported by the Olympics, in particular friendship, respect, excellence, peace and fraternity.

Beyond its protocolary significance, the arrival of the flame therefore marks an important sequence for Senegal and for the African continent. It marks the country’s entry into a new phase of preparation for Dakar 2026 and highlights the historic dimension of this first Olympic edition organized in Africa.

The reception ceremony should also offer strong visibility to Senegal, as the country intends to make Dakar 2026 a showcase of its youth, its sporting potential and its openness to the world.

The mobilization of the national and international press is thus desired by the Ministry of Communication and Relations with Institutions, which invites the media to ensure coverage of this sequence presented as historic.

With the arrival of the flame on Senegalese soil, Dakar 2026 takes a new step towards an event called to write a new page in Olympic history on the African continent.

CGD