The Youth Olympic flame will begin a historic journey towards the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on 10 September. The flame will be lit at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece, using sunlight and a parabolic mirror before beginning its journey to Senegal. Two days later, on 12 September, it will arrive in Dakar, marking a significant moment: the Youth Olympic flame will reach the African continent for the first time as part of an Olympic sporting event.
The journey will extend beyond the Senegalese capital. Under the “Share the energy” motto, the Dakar 2026 Flame Tour will travel through all 14 regions of Senegal, making 30 stops before reaching the Opening Ceremony on 31 October. The initiative aims to turn the journey into a meeting point for sport, culture and youth participation, while incorporating the spirit of teranga, a concept associated with Senegalese hospitality and generosity. Across the continent, more than 40 African National Olympic Committees and Olympafrica centres will join an activation that will use sport and education to symbolically accompany the flame’s arrival in Africa.
A journey through Senegal connecting sport, culture and youth
The flame’s arrival in Dakar on 12 September will be accompanied by a ceremony celebrating the host country’s identity, its youth and its culture. One of the central moments will be the “March of the Linguères”, a symbolic procession involving 100 Senegalese women that will culminate in the lighting of a cauldron at the Place du Souvenir Africain. The event combines official elements with cultural expressions and public participation, seeking to make the flame’s arrival a collective celebration rather than simply a ceremonial occasion. For Kirsty Coventry, president of the International Olympic Committee, the flame has precisely that ability to generate excitement, bring people together and demonstrate the power of sport to inspire.
After the welcome ceremony, the Flame Tour will unfold in several stages. It will first remain in Dakar from 14 to 27 September; it will then travel through the country’s regions from 29 September to 26 October; and finally return to Dakar from 28 to 30 October, just before the Opening Ceremony. In total, the journey will connect 30 locations across Senegal’s 14 regions, building anticipation for an edition that will bring together young athletes from around the world from 31 October to 13 November 2026.
A continental activation to accompany the flame’s arrival in Africa
The significance of the journey will also extend beyond Senegal’s borders. To mark the flame’s arrival in Dakar and reinforce the “Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates” motto, Olympafrica centres and more than 40 African National Olympic Committees will take part in We Run for Africa, an initiative combining runs and walks with educational workshops linked to Olympic values. Participants will collectively accumulate kilometres with the symbolic goal of reaching 30,500 kilometres, an approximate distance equivalent to the perimeter of the African continent. In this way, the flame will serve as the starting point for an activity designed to involve young people and communities across different countries.
The initiative is supported by the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) of the IOC and includes a toolkit designed for children and young people aged between 6 and 16. Its activities combine sport, education, art, culture, sustainability and exercises focused on imagining the future, with adaptable and inclusive content for different contexts. The resource aims to bring Dakar 2026 into classrooms and community spaces, using the flame’s journey as an opportunity to bring Olympic values closer to new generations while Senegal prepares to welcome the world’s leading young athletes.
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