The YOGOC president carries the Olympic torch in Milan, host city of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. This is the last Olympic sporting event before the Dakar 2026 YOG.
The sky is cloudy, showers are threatening and the fog is struggling to lift in Lombardy. On Tuesday 5 February, temperatures range between -1°C and 3°C in Milan, the Italian city hosting part of this year's Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Despite the winter temperatures and inclement weather, it is a day of celebration. The Olympic flame, which began its journey from the far reaches of Greece after the lighting ceremony in Olympia last November, has finally arrived in Milan.
‘Starting from Sesto San Giovanni, it will first pass through Cologno Monzese, Vimodrone, Segrate, Pioltello and San Donato Milanese, before entering the capital of Lombardy,’ explains the IOC.
Transmission, solidarity, fraternity
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games are the last Olympic sporting event before the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. The YOGOC president, Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, is one of the Olympic torchbearers. This is an opportunity to begin the handover between the two editions and to raise the profile of the very first Olympic sporting event to be held in Africa.
‘It is always a source of pride to represent Senegal,’ said the YOGOC president before setting off with the Olympic torch in his hands. Before the start, the senior Senegalese official prepared alongside Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Games organising committee.
‘It's a moment of sharing, solidarity and brotherhood. The whole city of Milan was out on the streets. It's a powerful message for peace. Sport is a vehicle for peace. There's a sense of unity all over the world,’ Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye told Olympics Channel.
For 63 days, more than 10,000 torchbearers took turns carrying the Olympic flame across Italy. In a few months, the YOG flame will light up Dakar, Diamniadio, Saly and the whole of Senegal.
“We are in for a tough ride.”
‘As I often say, we are in for a tough ride,’ Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye also pointed out, with the Dakar 2026 YOG set to begin in just under nine months (267 days to be precise, on 5 February 2026).
On Tuesday 3 February, a YOGOC delegation attended the 145th session of the International Olympic Committee, held in Milan and chaired by Kirsty Coventry, to present the progress of the Dakar 2026 YOG construction projects. The report presented by Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye focused in particular on the transition from the planning phase to the delivery phase of the construction projects currently underway.
