Nigeria, Botswana, Senegal Bid To Host First Olympic Event on African Soil

In February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that the 2022 Summer Youth Olympic Games will be making a trip to the African continent. Thus far, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Botswana have declared interest in hosting the games.

As the Olympics are held in cities, Nigeria’s bid shall be centred around Abuja, Botswana’s on capital city Gaborone and Senegal also on its capital, Dakar.

After a Tunisian court banned four Israeli athletes from competing at the Taekwondo World Junior Championships after a group of activists opposed to ties with Israel filed an urgent injunction the IOC suspended Tunisia’s bid.

When IOC personnel toured Abuja, Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung emphasized Nigeria and Abuja’s readiness for the games and the ability to deal with the challenges it would present.

Dalung said: “Abuja is ready to host because we have hosted international competitions in the past. Moreover, the IOC has emphasized that countries seeking to host the games should not build new structures but improve on their existing ones or make use of temporary facilities, which will be dismantled after the Games.

The IOC will make a decision this Summer on which city shall host Africa’s first ever Olympic event.