Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG has unveiled \u201cAyo\u201d as official mascot on one-year-to-go mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayo is a young lion who symbolises the joy and energy of Senegalese youth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The name means \u201cjoy\u201d in Yoruba \u2013 \u2013 and reflects the spirit of celebration and unity associated with the Games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ayo wears a traditional Fulani Tingand\u00e9<\/em> hat, representing wisdom, dignity and a connection to rural life, Ayo represents the values of Dakar 2026 and highlights the cultural heritage of Senegal as the host nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mascot was unveiled by the YOG Organising Committee, during a special ceremony at the Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre in Dakar as part of the celebrations to mark one year to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the One-Year-to-Go ceremony in Dakar, IOC President Kirsty Coventry said: \u201cThese Games represent so much for Africa; they will inspire the next generation and open doors of opportunity across our continent and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMascot Ayo carries a powerful message of joy and breaks many boundaries, a true symbol of how young and dynamic our continent is. Every day, new opportunities are opening up for Senegal\u2019s youth, and these Games are making that happen. I can\u2019t wait to be back here a year from now to celebrate together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mascot was selected through a nationwide competition launched by the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education. Open to middle and secondary school students, the competition received more than 500 entries from across all 16 academic inspectorates in Senegal. The initiative was aimed at promoting creativity among young people and strengthening their connection to the Games in the lead-up to the first Olympic event to be held on African soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Celebrations will continue in early November with the fourth and final edition of Dakar en Jeux<\/em>, the annual cultural and sports festival that has become a central feature of the Dakar 2026 engagement programme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking place from 4 to 9 November across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, the festival will bring together local communities through sport, music and visual arts, while continuing to promote the Olympic values among young people across Senegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Dakar 2026 YOG will take place from 31 October to 13 November 2026, bringing together 2,700 of the world\u2019s best young athletes aged up to 17. The Games will be held across three host sites in Senegal: Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG has unveiled \u201cAyo\u201d as official mascot on one-year-to-go mark. Ayo is a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[274],"class_list":["post-5463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-yog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026.jpg",2440,1373,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-2048x1152.jpg",2048,1152,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ayo-Mascot-of-Dakar-2026.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5465,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5463\/revisions\/5465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}