The Gambia National Olympic Committee is working in partnership with the National Sports Council to map out strategies and plans for Gambia’s participation in the forthcoming Youth Olympic Games to be held in Dakar, Senegal in 2022.
Officials of the two bodies held their preliminary discussions at the National Sports Council’s offices in Bakau.
The first objective is to go and give a good representation, not just to participate, according to the Executive Director of the National Sports Council, Marcel Mendy. “We are also planning to send a huge number of athletes from different disciplines and also make sure all the athletes that qualified for the Games are well prepared. So we thought the best way to realize all these is for the two institutions to come together to work towards the Games,” he told The Chronicle.
“At the moment, we are looking at how to better motivate the athletes. We are also looking at how to get more financial support for them to excel in this event. For the fact that they need to train effectively, they also need to start training soon.”
The 2022 Youth Olympic Games will take place in Dakar, the new city of Diamniadio and the coastal resort of Saly, between May and June.
Muhammed Jobe, the President of the Senegalese Swimming Federation said it would be a continent-wide effort to ensure a successful hosting of what will be the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Dakar was announced as the host city of the 4th Summer YOG during the IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina last year. Botswana, Nigeria and Tunisia had all shown interest in hosting the Games, but the International Olympic Committee’s Evaluation Commission and the Executive Board agreed that Senegal presented the best value proposition and the greatest opportunities at this moment it time.
However, with a large youth population, Senegal views the Youth Olympic Games as a catalyst for engaging young people and developing the country’s sport and youth policy.
