Four sports will make their debut at the Youth Olympic Games [YOG] in Dakar 2026 , of which baseball5 , skateboard , surfing and wushu .
These additions are designed to increase the participation of African youth in sport and to achieve gender equality in every sport and event for the first time.
The Buenos Aires 2018 YOG achieved gender equality overall, but with varying amounts of men and women in different events.
The 2026 Dakar Rally will feature 35 sports in total, with the new additions replacing roller sports and trampoline gymnastics.
Other changes to existing disciplines for the first African YOG see beach wrestling replace Greco-Roman wrestling and the introduction of beach canoe sprint. Sport climbing will move from a combined discipline event to bouldering only, while the cycling format will expand from four team events to individual competitions in BMX freestyle, road racing and individual time trial.
As Dakar 2026 approaches, we take a closer look at the four sports making their Youth Olympic Games debuts. Below, you can get a taste of what’s to come in a video created ahead of the event’s original 2022 date, before the pandemic forced its postponement.Play
Duration Time1:41
A first in Africa: Senegal will host the 2022 YOG
Baseball5
Baseball5 is a five-on-five, five-inning street version of baseball and softball.
It is also launcher-less and only requires a rubber ball to play and competitors use their hand instead of a bat.
Innovation and accessibility are at the heart of baseball5's inclusion, and its basic requirements mean it's fast, furious and can be played anywhere.
In April 2022, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) hosted a week-long Baseball5 workshop in Senegal, introducing players from the National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) to the rules, training sessions and games.
The new format will first be seen in competition at the inaugural Baseball5 World Cup, from November 7-13 in El Zócalo, Mexico City, before appearing at the 2023 African Beach Games in Tunisia.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding was a huge hit in its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, full of gravity-defying tricks and incredible kits.
However, the only African competitors in Japan were limited to three South African skaters.
As a sport that is easily accessible and can be practiced in an urban environment, it fits perfectly into the Dakar 2026 program, which aims to promote the participation of African youth in the various Olympic disciplines.
Skateboarding will feature 12 men and 12 women competing in the park discipline at the Complexe Tour de l'Œuf venue.
Athletes will compete on a course that resembles a fishbowl, and their laps in a 45-second period are judged by a panel of judges.Play
Duration Time4:16
Amazing skateboard tricks at #Tokyo2020
Surfing
Surfing is another sport that made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
It proved to be particularly representative, with medallists coming from five different continents, including the women's silver medallist Bianca Buitendag from South Africa.
The action in Dakar will take place in the coastal town of Saly, where there will be one runner per wave.
A panel of judges will determine each surfer's performance from wave to wave, rating them from one to ten based on the difficulty of the maneuvers performed.
Senegal will be keen to find the next one Cherif Fall , whose mission is to become his country's first Olympic surfing representative has Paris 2024 .Play
Duration Time2:55
From Broken Boards to Surfing Elite: The Story of Senegalese Cherif Fall
Wushu
Wushu is a combat sport that first appeared at the Olympic Games as an exhibition event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2014 Nanjing YOG.
The sport, which was created to standardize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts, has more than 120 million practitioners worldwide.
48 athletes will compete in four events in Dakar, including men's and women's Changquan and men's and women's Taijiquan.
Changquan involves extended, long-range techniques that focus more on speed and flexibility, while Taijiquan is the practice of controlled breathing, combined with slower technical movements. Yong Yi Xiang of Singapore in the men's wushu optional changquan at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, Singapore. (2015Getty Images)
