Dakar Youth Olympics called-off till 2026 amid COVID-19 pandemic

The International Olympic Committee has postponed the 2022 Dakar Youth Olympics for four years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

IOC President Thomas Bach said the delay was discussed two days ago in a telephone conversation with Senegal President Macky Sall.

The Youth Summer Games would be the first Olympics organized in Africa.

“This was really too heavy workload for everybody,” Bach said, citing the postponed Tokyo Olympic now opening in July 2021. The Beijing



Winter Olympics are due to be held in February 2022.

“We would have had to master five (Olympic) Games in just three years,” Bach said.

Bach acknowledged that “this news will be disappointing for many young athletes,” and asked for their understanding.

An IOC statement said: “This agreement results from the large scale of the operational challenges which the IOC, the NOCs and the IFs are facing following the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.”