Senegal's swimmers blame poor facilities for Youth Olympics shutout

Senegal's swimmers finish with no medals

Senegal's six swimmers competed at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics without winning any medals. Parents say poor training facilities and lack of government support held the team back.

Olympic pool closed for four years

The swimmers trained in club pools, some just twenty metres long, because the Olympic pool was closed to them for four years, according to parents and supporters.

Naël Lamine Voisin's last race

Naël Lamine Voisin finished fifth in his fifty-metre breaststroke heat on Thursday, becoming the last Senegalese swimmer to compete at the Games. He did not reach the final.

“I was hoping to reach the final, but I didn't manage it.”

Voisin credits his mother's support

Voisin improved his one hundred-metre breaststroke time the day before his final race. He told RFI his mother helped him reach the Games and hopes to compete at the twenty twenty-twenty-eight Olympics.

“Without my mother, I wouldn't have been able to get here.”

Parents defend swimmers' effort

Nafi Touré, a former fencer who competed in Athens in two thousand four and Beijing in two thousand eight, said her son's first major international competition should not be judged only by results.

“I feel proud. I'm proud that Senegal was represented and that these young people pushed themselves to the limit.”

Call for better infrastructure

Maïmouna Diakhaté, mother of swimmer Rassoul Lèye, said swimmers trained in twenty or twenty-five-metre pools while attending classes, making it impossible to compete fairly at international level.

“We can't expect a lot from these young people while giving them so little.”

Federation points to training camps

Maguette Dièye, president of the Senegalese Swimming Federation, said the larger team was possible because Senegal hosted the Games. Swimmers benefited from two training camps in China, each lasting two months.

Long-term support needed for 2032

Dièye said the main priority is long-term government support after the Youth Olympics.Mohamed Diop, president of Africa Aquatics, called for reopening the swimming training centre that operated between two thousand nineteen and two thousand twenty-two.

“What's needed is the infrastructure and to give athletes the necessary conditions to prepare for two thousand thirty-two.”