12 Jun 2018

Four African countries, Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, have shown interest in hosting the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2022.

The International Olympic Committee has already sent a team to Botswana to inspect facilities for the hosting of the Games.

The host country will be announced at the IOC’s 133^rd session in October in Buenos Aires.

The team of evaluation commission members, who will select the winning bid,  is headed by Ugur Erdener, the IOC vice-president from Turkey. Other members are Beatrice Allen from Gambia, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, Neven Ilic of Chile, Gunilla Lindberg from Sweden, Chinese Li Lingwei, Burundian Lydia Nsekera and Auvita Rapilla of Papua New Guinea.

Although other European and Asian countries had wanted to bid to host the Games, their dreams were thwarted by the IOC president, Thomas Bach’s, who announced during the 132^nd IOC session in Pyeong Chang that Africa should be given the opportunity to host the Games.

 “It’s time for Africa. Africa is the home of so many successful Olympic athletes. It is also the continent of youth. This is why we want to take the Youth Olympic Games to Africa. This is why the IOC will proactively approach a number of African NOCs to evaluate the feasibility of bringing the Games to Africa,” he said.

The inaugural Youth Olympic Games were held in 2010 in Argentina, followed by China in 2014, and this year they will be hosted in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Should Botswana be given the thumbs up to host the Games, it will be the first country in Africa to host them.

  The winning country will host 207 participating countries, around 6 000 athletes competing in 30 different sporting codes for about 12 days.

It will also be interesting to watch canoeing, sailing and rowing taking place at Letsibogo, Gaborone or Dikgatlhong dams. ENDS