YOG 2026: Bassirou Diomaye Faye takes delivery of the Olympic Village and the Diamniadio Equestrian Center

The countdown is tightening for Dakar 2026. This Saturday, August 29, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye officially received the Diamniadio Olympic Village and the Equestrian Center, two major infrastructures for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), scheduled from October 31 to November 13.

The President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, carried out this Saturday, August 29, 2026, the official reception of the Diamniadio Olympic Village and the Equestrian Center, two flagship infrastructures of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Dakar 2026, indicates a press release from the Presidency.

A personal commitment from the Head of State

According to the Presidency, this reception crowns the personal commitment of the Head of State, who has made the delivery of infrastructure an absolute priority since last year, carried out project after project alongside a fully mobilized government team. A way of reminding us that the close monitoring of the work, initiated from its first field visits, resulted in the completion of the works a little over two months before the event.

A detailed visit to the facilities

On the site of the Olympic Village, the Head of State toured the living spaces, the demonstration rooms as well as the facilities adapted for people with reduced mobility, before going to the rehabilitated pavilions and the sports complex of the Amadou Mahtar Mbow University. At the Equestrian Center, he inspected the stables as well as the competition and training arenas, before discovering the building made available to the Organizing Committee of the Youth Olympic Games. A step-by-step visit which reflects the presidential desire to verify, down to the detail, the conformity of the equipment to the expected standards.

An event that goes beyond sport

Beyond infrastructure, the President of the Republic called for the same rigorous monitoring on all aspects of the organization, until the opening ceremony. He insisted that all conditions must be met for Senegal to honor its commitments and defend the honor and reputation of the country before the world.

The Presidency press release places this deadline in a broader perspective: through these infrastructures, Senegal is keeping its word to the Olympic movement and to Africa, which is hosting the Olympic Games on its soil for the first time. Designed to last, they are intended to remain with the country’s students, athletes and young riders well after the end of the Games, a way of inscribing the legacy of the YOG beyond the strict sporting calendar.

The Head of State also praised the joint work of the Ministries of Infrastructure, Youth and Sports, Higher Education and the Armed Forces, as well as the National Gendarmerie, whose commitment made it possible to deliver these works on time. Dakar 2026, concludes the Presidency, will be a moment of national pride and proof that Senegal keeps its appointments.

With the delivery of the Olympic Village and the Equestrian Center, most of the sports infrastructure for the YOG Dakar 2026 is now complete, alongside the Iba Mar Diop stadium and the Olympic swimming pool, received earlier in the year. There remains, with just over two months to go before the opening, the final stretch: the putting into operational working order of sites designed to accommodate thousands of young athletes from all over the world, in what constitutes an unprecedented organizational challenge for the country.

CGD