Elisabeth Diatta during her gold medal contest [Photo: OIS]
Four Gold Medals in Three Days for Senegal
by Philip Barker
The motto of these 2026 Youth Olympic Games has been “Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates.”
The Senegalese have indeed proved the perfect hosts, but over a magical weekend, they have also had real cause to celebrate with four gold medals.
The first golden moment came at Saly West shortly after 4:55 pm on Saturday afternoon when Elisabeth Diatta defeated Reisa Kojima of Japan to win the women’s 55kg in beach wrestling.
Diatta had previously won silver at the African Under 17 Championships. Two months ago, she finished fourth at the Under 17 World Championships. Now she was the first to hear the Senegalese anthem for a victory ceremony at an Olympic event.
“I want to tell the Senegalese people to believe in their dreams, and to tell girls that wrestling isn’t just for boys,” Diatta said after her victory.
Only 30 minutes later came another contest to savour. This time it was Maguette Diop who delighted the home crowd when he successfully challenged a decision against Nihad Suleymanyi of Azerbaijan to take the men’s 80kg beach wrestling title.
“Winning in front of an entire nation is a source of immense pride, We have been working hard for this for years. It is what has taken us here,” Diop explained.
Then, 24 hours later came gold medal number three.
This time it was Ndeye Khady Anna Diatta who took the 45kg beach wrestling gold stopping Mexico’s Karen Araceli Rios Silva.
“A girl is capable of doing everything she wants to do if she really wants to do it,” she insisted.
“If you do wrestling, it is to honour your country, to show the whole world that you can do something better.”
The following day in Dakar, Senegal topped their pool in the men’s basketball 3×3 competition and then edged past Germany in the semi-final. Roared on by the home crowd they took gold in a close contest against Lithuania, finishing 14-13 in overtime.
It is over a century since Saidi Samba-Ciré became the first Senegalese-born athlete to compete in the Olympics at Paris in 1924, although he wore the colours of France at those Games.
In 1960 Abdou Seye took bronze in the men’s 200m, also wearing the colours of France.
In 1988 Amadou Dia Bâ became the first to win an Olympic medal whilst representing Senegal. He took silver in the men’s 400m hurdles, finishing ahead of double champion Ed Moses in the final.
There will be a full report on the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in the first edition of the Journal of Olympic History in 2027.
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