Pau Gasol asks for advice too… albeit in a sport other than his own. During the Dakar Youth Olympic Games, the two-time NBA champion shared a post from a tennis court with an invitation to Rafa Nadal: “Open to any advice.” Accompanied by a tennis emoji and laughter, the message offers a light-hearted glimpse of his time in Senegal. After so many years showing what he could do with a basketball, Gasol can still see the funny side of stepping onto unfamiliar ground, away from the orange ball.
His presence comes with a specific responsibility. Pau Gasol chairs the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, a position to which he was elected during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games and which brings the athletes’ voice to the organisation’s Executive Board. He brings the experience of five Olympic appearances, two silver medals and a bronze. In Dakar, that experience meets a generation beginning to discover what it means to be part of the Games. Alongside it comes, of course, his ability to draw media attention.
The life of the Games is also in the Village
On 29 October, two days before the opening ceremony, Gasol accompanied Kirsty Coventry on her visit to the Youth Olympic Village in Diamniadio. The tour took them through games, photographs and encounters with athletes. The delegation also visited Athlete365 House, where participants can learn about athlete safeguarding, clean sport and the prevention of competition manipulation. Amid the welcome and the activities lies an essential part of these Games: providing tools for those who are still finding their way in elite sport.
The Village occupies the campus of Amadou Mahtar Mbow University, which will return to student use after the Games. It is a fitting setting for a competition that makes learning part of its programme. Dakar 2026 brings together around 2,700 young athletes, with activities spread across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, in the first Olympic sporting event held in Africa. For Gasol, who spent years measuring his Olympic appearances in games, minutes and results, this edition offers another perspective: helping shape the experience of those now competing.
The person behind the medals
Among his posts from Senegal is an encounter that invites a closer look at a different detail. Gasol shared that he had met Pilar, the designer of the Dakar 2026 medal, and expressed his delight that she was Spanish too. His message encouraged people to notice those behind the objects they see. “A pleasure, Pilar,” he wrote. An Olympic medallist giving space to the person who conceived the medals others will receive.
She is Pilar Barbadillo Vicario, the creator of “The Roar of Youth”, the design selected for the obverse of the medals. Her proposal was chosen following an international call for entries that attracted submissions from 103 countries. The encounter brings together two ways of reaching the Games: competing in them and creating one of their most recognisable symbols. Gasol knows the weight of a medal from standing on the podium; Pilar has designed the image that will become part of that memory for the young athletes in Dakar.
Twenty-five years after his first game
His stay in Senegal has coincided with a personal milestone. On 1 November, Gasol marked the 25th anniversary of his NBA debut on social media. He shared a photograph from that beginning and recalled the young man fulfilling his dream without yet knowing what lay ahead. The calendar has placed that memory alongside the first international steps of Dakar’s participants, giving his presence at these Games a more personal dimension.
The Senegalese press greeted his arrival by recalling his two titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2006 World Championship and his achievements with Spain. That record explains the interest in his visit. His posts add smaller details: a joke directed at Nadal, a designer he introduces by name, a photograph of the young man he once was. At Games dedicated to those just starting out, Gasol has returned to a thought about his own beginning: “I had no idea yet what lay ahead.”
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