Senegal is set to become the first African nation to host an Olympic event, recommended by the IOC executive board to host the fourth Youth Olympics in 2022. IOC members are expected to confirm the decision in a host-city vote next month.
Botswana, Nigeria and Tunisia were the other candidates.
IOC president Thomas Bach said in February that the executive board wanted the 2022 Youth Olympics to be held in Africa, a recommendation confirmed by IOC membership days later.
The first Youth Olympics were held in Singapore in 2010, followed by Nanjing, China, in 2014 and Buenos Aires next month.
The Youth Winter Olympics debuted in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012, followed by Lillehammer, Norway, in 2016 and Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2020.
Senegal’s capital of Dakar would share the Games with Diamniadio and Saly.
“It is time for Africa,” Bach said in a press release. “Africa is the home of many successful and prominent Olympic athletes. Africa is a continent of youth. That is why we want to take the Youth Olympic Games 2022 to Africa and to Senegal.”
Senegal owns one Olympic medal, a 400m hurdles silver from the 1988 Seoul Games earned by Amadou Dia Ba.
The closest an African bid came to getting an Olympics came in 2004, when Cape Town, South Africa, finished third behind Athens and Rome.
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