Dakar 2026: The Olympic flame will be lit on September 10 in Athens

The Olympic flame for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will be lit on Thursday, September 10, at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, before being handed over to the Senegalese organizing committee. The ceremony marks a new milestone towards the first Youth Olympic Games held on the African continent.

The lighting and the handing over of the flame will take place during the same ceremony, starting at 11:30 a.m., notably in the presence of the President of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry. The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Isidoros Kouvelos, will then hand over the flame to Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, President of the Dakar 2026 Organizing Committee.

The flame will arrive in Senegal on September 12. Two days later, it will begin a national tour that is set to cross the country’s 14 regions until October 30, with more than 30 stops and several hundred relay runners.

This journey aims to bring the Games closer to the people ahead of the opening ceremony scheduled for October 31 at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio. The Youth Olympic Games will continue until November 13, 2026.

A final stretch before the first Olympic event in Africa

The flame tour will be accompanied by sports, cultural, and educational activities in the cities it passes through. Dakar, Rufisque, Guédiawaye, and Pikine are among the announced stops, as well as several regional capitals within the country.

The event takes place as the organization enters its final phase, between site delivery, volunteer mobilization, and preparation of the sports program. Dakar 2026 is set to bring together young athletes from around the world in several disciplines, including breaking, baseball5, and skateboarding.

Senegal will thus host the first Olympic event organized in Africa. The arrival of the flame on the continent, on September 12, will add an additional symbolic dimension to the countdown before the opening of the Games.