Olympic Values in Action: Eliud Kipchoge Mentors Dakar 2026 Refugee Olympic Team Athletes.
Ahead of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, six athletes representing the Refugee Olympic Team gathered near Eldoret, Kenya, for a special mentorship session with two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge.
As the team’s official mentor, Kipchoge shared essential insights on high-performance preparation, team cohesion, and embracing the Olympic spirit. He urged the young athletes to embrace discipline and respect as the foundation for lasting success both on and off the field of play.
DAKAR 2026 REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM.
The first-ever EOR to compete at a Youth Olympic Games will comprise six athletes and have full gender parity. The athletes will compete in athletics, judo and taekwondo.
The members of the Dakar 2026 Refugee Olympic Team will be:
- Arno, 15 (Host NOC: Kenya, Sport: Judo, -55kg men)
- Clement, 16 (Host NOC: Kenya, Sport: Athletics, 800m men)
- Florence, 16 (Host NOC: Uganda, Sport: Athletics, 200m women)
- Lourance, 16 (Host NOC: Kenya, Sport: Taekwondo, -49kg women)
- Nyataba, 17 (Host NOC: Kenya, Sport: Athletics, 800m women)
- Rachid, 16 (Host NOC: Uganda, Sport: Athletics, 200m men)
The team represents a platform to elevate young refugee athletes, and highlight Africa’s role in addressing global displacement.
East and Southern Africa, where the athletes on the Dakar 2026 EOR are based, currently hosts 6.4 million refugees and asylum-seekers, with the largest proportion of them hosted across Uganda and Kenya. Of these 6.4 million, almost half (an estimated 48%) are children under the age of 18. In West and Central Africa, where the Youth Olympic Games will be hosted, there are 20.1 million forcibly displaced and stateless people.
The support for these athletes is a demonstration of the welcoming spirit which seeks to include refugees across society on the African continent, and particularly in Kenya and Uganda. Hosted by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, the youth EOR project is the result of a strong collaboration between the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF), World Athletics, the National Olympic Committee of Uganda and Athletics Kenya. For the first time, athletes were selected from an ORF community programme, as two of the athletes were identified through the Game Connect programme. Support for the athletes has been made possible thanks to funding from the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity programme.
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will take place from 31 October to 13 November.
