IOC launches revamped Young Reporters Programme for Dakar 2026

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partnered with the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) and the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Dakar 2026 to launch a new Young Reporters programme that will provide sports reporting training to a select group of young professionals from Africa.

The programme, which will run in the build-up to Dakar 2026, is aimed at creating a tangible legacy for the young generation in both the host country, Senegal, and the wider African continent, with 16 budding journalists from six countries set to take part.

The nine female and seven male reporters will participate in both general and specialised training, in person and online, with expert mentors teaching them about the many facets of sports reporting and major events coverage, including photography, broadcasting, reporting and social media.

In contrast to previous editions of the programme, which saw Young Reporters in action only during each edition of the YOG, the Dakar 2026 programme will also provide the participants with specialised training and real-life experience at selected events in the build-up to these Games.

The Dakar 2026 Young Reporters programme started during the Paris 2024 mountain bike test event, which took place from 21 to 25 September 2023. The Young Reporters received in-class training at the Paris 2024 headquarters and on-the-job training at the Elancourt Hill Olympic venue. In parallel, a wider group of participants received online training.

Meet the Young Reporters

The IOC/AIPS Young Reporters Programme for Dakar 2026 is looking to have a demonstrable and long-lasting impact in the host country of Senegal and the African continent as a whole. With this in mind, the 16 selected participants, all aged between 18 and 24, are citizens or residents of an African country and either studying as journalism students or working as reporters, photographers or videographers.

Absolm Hassan “Omar” Wamwayi

Absolm is a 23-year-old from Uganda who is currently pursuing studies in journalism and multimedia. He also works as a professional photographer primarily specialising in rugby, though he took a short break from working at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France to attend the start of the Young Reporters Programme in Paris.

Arame Thiandoum

Arame, 24, from Senegal, is a certified digital marketer with experience in social media, who is currently studying communications and sports management. Fluent in French and English, she hopes to further develop her knowledge and skills during the programme.

Bachir Mokhtari

Bachir from Algeria is currently studying for a PhD while working in communications for the Canadian embassy in Algeria. Additionally, the 23-year-old has previously worked as a sports reporter for various newspapers and websites in Algeria. He acted as press attaché for the Algerian NOC at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and has the goal of working in sports-related media.

Fatma Niang

Fatma, a 21-year-old from Senegal, is currently in her third year of a bachelor’s course in journalism, specialising in broadcasting at the Centre for Information Science and Technology Studies in Dakar. She aspires to be part of the new generation of video journalists capable of covering a wide range of events.

Moses Martin Mbogo

Moses Martin is a 24-year-old from Kenya currently working as a sports editor for Sports Brief Kenya, where he has gained experience in radio interviews with sports personalities.

Nandala Aurelia Emérence Monné

Twenty-four-year-old Nandala of Burkina Faso studied journalism and is currently working as an intern at the sports information service of Burkina Faso Television Broadcasting, with the dream of showing her younger sisters that sports journalism is not just for men.

Ndèye Astou Samb Sène

While studying finance and accounting, Ndèye decided to make a switch and follow her true passion for journalism. The 24-year-old Senegalese has since joined Emedia Invest as an intern, where she has gained experience in broadcasting.

Nénucha Ciss

Currently in the third year of her studies in journalism, Nénucha, a 23-year-old from Senegal, has also been working as an intern at the Senegalese national daily, Le Soleil.

Olamide Oluwaseyi Abe

At 23, Nigeria’s Olamide has studied at both the University of Ibadan and the National Broadcast Academy of Lagos. He has since started as a sports analyst intern at Family FM, and has worked as a sports reporter, data analyst and podcaster for several media outlets.

Saliou Camara

Having already completed his studies in law, 23-year-old Senegalese Saliou decided to begin a bachelor’s degree in journalism to follow his passion for broadcasting.

Salome Njoki Njoroge

Twenty-two-year-old Salome from Kenya studied journalism and mass communication at Zetech University, and now works as a digital sports journalist in online media.

Sylvia Abigael Wafula

Currently pursuing her master's degree in communication and multimedia at the University of Kenya, the 22-year-old Kenyan, Sylvia, has previously gained experience in sports reporting while working for Radio Africa Group and Pulse Sports Kenya.

Tabitha Nashipae Lengisol

Kenyan Tabitha left her hometown of Narok, in Kenya, to pursue higher education at Moi University, a path that has now led the 24-year-old to work as a correspondent for Mozzart Sport in Eldoret.

Tracy Bonareri Onchoke

Tracy, 24, from Kenya, interns at Africa Uncensored Writing and Public Relations as a fact checker, having previously earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and digital media.

Yann Henri Durand

Born in the USA but now living in Senegal, 23-year-old Yann has experience in radio and wants to gain further knowledge and experience in order to develop his career as a journalist and analyst.

Yaye Awa Niang

Twenty-three-year-old Senegalese Yaye studied at the faculty of legal and political sciences for two years before joining the Centre for Information Science and Technology Studies in Dakar. In 2022, she interned at Medi TV Afrique and at ITV Senegal in 2023.

What is the Young Reporters Programme?

The IOC Young Reporters Programme was established ahead of the inaugural YOG in Singapore in 2010 to provide journalism students and those taking their first steps in journalism careers with cross-platform training and on-the-job experience at a major multi-sport event. Guided and supported by experts in their fields, participants at each edition of the YOG have been trained in broadcast, print journalism, social media and photography.

In its previous iterations, the IOC Young Reporters Programme has always taken place during the YOG themselves. At Lausanne 2020, for example, 16 young reporters from 16 different countries took part, having originally been nominated by their National Olympic Committees (NOCs). This gave them a further opportunity to develop their skills in a unique environment, with the content they produced then being published on the Lausanne 2020 website and Young Reporters’ social media platforms. This on-site learning has seen many graduates of the programme go on to fulfil their ambitions to have careers in the media.

Significantly, since its inception the programme has also had a strong focus on gender equality. At the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, men made up approximately 80 per cent of the accredited journalists and photographers. In order to start to address this imbalance, since its first edition the Young Reporters programme has aimed at a 50-50 male and female split.