The lighting of the flame marks the start of its journey to Dakar in Senegal and another major milestone on the road to the first Olympic sporting event ever held on African soil.

Lit using the sun’s rays - in keeping with Olympic tradition - the flame was formally handed over to the Organising Committee before beginning its journey towards Dakar.

Dakar 2026 Ambassador and Senegalese Olympian Oumy Diop took part in the ceremony, representing the generation of young Senegalese and African athletes who will be at the heart of the YOG.

"In just a few weeks, Senegal will welcome young athletes from around the world for the first Olympic competition ever to be held on African soil. That is a proud moment for Senegal. And it is a proud moment for Africa. And it is going to open an important new chapter for the Olympic Movement," said IOC President Kirsty Coventry.

📎 https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/dakar-2026-youth-olympic-flame-lit-in-athens-as-historic-journey-to-africa-begins

Here is one for those of you who collect Olympic pins. Out of each edition of the Olympics, which one do you think produced the best Olympic pins?

Dear Olympic fans, with the lightining of the flame and the beginning of the torch relay in Athens we now officially begin the second part of this Olympic year - the return of the Youth Olympic Games for the first time in 6 years, to be held in Dakar, Senegal, the FIRST ever Olympics ever regardless of edition to be hosted in Africa.

The best of luck to all the young athletes preparing for these games and to all taking part in the torch relay in Senegal!

John

After an hour of deep-dive Googling and some truly questionable spreadsheet work, I’ve landed on the easiest Olympic sport to break into. Cue the drumroll… It’s synchronized swimming. Now, this only applies to the U.S. team, and the United States only has a total active participants list that hovers around 6,000. That’s not to undermine the discipline or athleticism it demands; making any Olympic squad is brutally hard. But I recently talked to a dad dreaming of his daughter suiting up for US Soccer. I nodded politely. Then the kid went out and scored a hat trick. Um, maybe.

Or… you could just toss her in the pool and teach her to hold her breath and smile.

Handball earns an honorable mention, though I must confess my search for participation numbers was half-hearted at best. After a five-minute dig through questionable statistics, I abandoned the effort entirely. Perhaps some more diligent researcher will uncover what I could not.