The 2022 Youth Olympic Games, which were scheduled to be held in Dakar, Senegal, have been postponed to 2026, as mutually agreed upon by IOC President Thomas Bach and Senegal President Macky Sall.
With the coronavirus affecting the entire world and subsequently pushing the summer Olympics in Tokyo back a whole year to 2021, that has drastically affected the rest of the international sporting calendar. Had the Youth Olympics gone on as scheduled, the IOC would have the Summer Games, the Winter Games, and the Youth Games all in a span of 12 months.
The IOC said in a release:
“The postponement of Dakar 2022 allows the IOC, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Federations (IFs) to better plan their activities, which have been strongly affected by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, by the subsequent postponements of major international sports events, and by the operational and financial consequences of the global health crisis.
“At the same time, it allows Senegal to carry on the excellent preparations for the Youth Olympic Games. The two leaders, who praised the progress made so far, have jointly renewed their confidence in Dakar 2022 President Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, IOC Member in Senegal, and both remain fully committed to the great success of these Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever to be organized in Africa.”
With the Olympic Games being pushed to 2021, FINA had to move its pre-scheduled 2021 World Championships to 2022, while the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and European Championships have not been affected for that year. The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, which have generally been held in between Olympic cycles, have had a similar fate to the Youth Olympics and will now be held in 2026 to avoid an overcrowding of the calendar.
Many of today’s great swimmers got their international start at the Youth Olympics, which were started in 2010. Worlds medalists Evgeny Rylov, Anton Chupkov, Mykhailo Romanchuk, Ippei Watanabe and Simona Quadarella each won gold medals at the 2014 Games in China.
Stars of Youth Olympic Games past:
Sad for all those that will age out/up.
Yet another thing taken from kids today
Marija Romanovskaja Swim
I hope this is about EYOF 2022. EYOF 2021 has already been postponed to 2022 earlier.
EYOF 2021 (now 2022) will take place in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia).
I’m interested in hearing more about the technology they’re going to use to allow people who are youths in 2022 to still be youths in 2026.