The International Olympic Committee has announced the 15 young journalists who will take part in its Young Reporters Programme during the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games and the road to selection was far from easy. Following the relaunch of the programme’s updated format in September 2025, a total of 271 applications poured in from 32 countries, making this one of the most competitive editions in the initiative’s history.
The chosen participants, all between the ages of 21 and 25, will travel to Senegal to report live from one of the world’s most prominent youth sporting events, gaining the kind of hands-on media experience that is rarely available at this stage of a journalism career.
Who made the cut
The 15 selected Young Reporters reflect a genuinely diverse group, drawing from multiple continents and a wide range of cultural backgrounds within the Olympic Movement.
Six of the participants come from Africa, with three representing the host nation, Senegal. The full list of selected reporters is:
Oumou Koulsoum Balde (Senegal)
Boubacar Diop (Senegal)
Nathan Goddard-McCarthy (Barbados)
Aissatou Ka (Senegal)
Flavie Kazmierczak (France)
Yue Liu (China)
Simone Longo (Italy)
Nkele Martin (Canada)
Mahbubat Salahudeen (Nigeria)
Hawa Sow Tall (Mauritania)
Aina Vall (Spain)
Joh Vonne Roberts (USA)
Abigael Wafula (Kenya)
Jack Young (Australia)
Evelyn Younger (Australia)
The group also includes journalists from territories that will host future Olympic and Youth Olympic Games, further underscoring the IOC’s goal of building a pipeline of media talent connected to the broader Olympic community.
What the programme actually looks like on the ground
This is not a passive observational role. During the Games scheduled to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, 2026, across three host zones in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly the Young Reporters will be embedded in the Main Press Centre alongside fully accredited international media professionals.
Led by senior Olympic media figures and experienced working journalists, the programme blends structured training sessions with active field reporting. Participants will develop skills across print journalism, sports photography, broadcast media and social media content creation, covering the full spectrum of what modern sports reporting demands.
They will also gain direct access to mixed zones and press conferences and work in live event environments experiences that many journalism graduates spend years trying to obtain. The content they produce, including written pieces, photos and video packages, will be published on the programme’s own media platforms, giving their work a real audience from day one.
A programme with a proven track record
The IOC Young Reporters Programme is not new. It was first introduced ahead of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, with the explicit mission of developing the next generation of sports journalists. In the 16 years since its launch, 125 participants from 68 countries have come through the programme, and many have gone on to build lasting careers in sports media including at the Olympic Games themselves and within organizations across the Olympic Movement.
The Dakar 2026 edition builds on that foundation while incorporating updates informed by an independent review of the programme conducted in 2025 by Dr. Jessie Wilkie of the University of Canberra. Those updates are designed to keep the programme relevant as the global media landscape continues to evolve rapidly.
Why it matters
For the 15 selected reporters, the opportunity goes well beyond a line on a résumé. Covering a major international multi-sport event with the infrastructure, access and mentorship of the IOC behind them offers a formative professional experience that can shape the trajectory of an entire career.
With around 2,700 young athletes from across the world expected to compete in Dakar, the stories these journalists will tell are ones that deserve skilled, passionate and globally representative voices. This cohort, chosen from hundreds of hopefuls, is set to deliver exactly that.
