POC chief tempers expectations ahead of Youth Olympic Games in Dakar

MANILA — Nine athletes will carry the flag for the Philippines in the 4th Youth Olympic Games, which opens in Dakar on Saturday night under the theme “Africa welcomes, Dakar celebrates.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino acknowledged that the Filipino athletes are facing a tall task in the multisport event for athletes aged 15-17.

“They’re big and they look strong,” Tolentino said of the American and European athletes, after doing the rounds with secretary-general Atty. Wharton Chan upon their arrival in Senegal on Wednesday.

“It will be very difficult,” he added. “So it’s good luck to our athletes, although I’m sure they prepared hard for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Tolentino welcomed the first batch of Filipinos on Thursday night. Already checked in at the Athletes’ Village were swimmers Riannah Chantelle Coleman and Jamesray Michael Ajido and wushu’s Angel Polo and their coaches Ramil Ilustre and Jensen Halili (swimming) and Chinese Li Jianfang (wushu).

Coleman and Ajido will bear the Philippine flag in the parade of nations during the opening ceremony and they will be joined by Polo, Chef de Mission Rocky Samson, Illustre and Li.

Flying to Dakar also via Istanbul on Saturday are gymnastics athletes Hillarion Palles III and Tchelcy Mei Maayo and coaches Reyland Capellan and Kazutaka Hakamada. 

On November 4, it will be the turn of cycling’s Maritanya Krog and coaches Mark John Lexer Galedo and Marita Lucas and athletics’ Pi Wangkay and Naomi Cesar and coach Jasper Tanhueco.

Celebrations are already taking over Senegal’s capital, according to local reports, as the city prepares to welcome the rest of the world—primarily the more than 2,700 athletes—to the first Olympic event on African soil.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the first Olympic sporting event on African “soil offers the continent a chance to challenge low expectations and show the world what it can achieve.”

“It feels like a long time coming,” Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming champion, told a press conference at the Main Press Center on Thursday. “The excitement of having the first-ever Olympic event here is a little bit surreal.”

A visit to the Youth Olympic Village in Diamniadio also caught the IOC chief’s enthusiasm.

“It felt like you were walking in the village in Paris or in Milan,” she said. “And I think that is something to be incredibly proud of.”

Senegal was awarded in 2018 to host the YOG originally scheduled in 2022, but was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic and moved to 2026.

Dakar YOG Ceremonies Director Khady Niang said the Opening Ceremony will allow Africa to “tell the world who we are, where we come from and where we want to go.”

The production aims to showcase Senegalese identity and Africa’s cultural diversity, featuring around 11,000 performers, including 700 dancers.

Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye will join Coventry in the ceremony.