Olympic flame arrives in Senegal for Youth Games, the first Olympic event to be held in Africa

Senegalese basketball legend Mame Maty Mbengue, in Dakar, Senegal, Saturday [AP Photo]

The Olympic flame was welcomed by music and dancing in Senegal’s capital Saturday, as a march by 100 women marked the countdown to the first Olympic sporting event held in Africa — the Youth Olympic Games.

More than a hundred people gathered at Dakar’s Place du Souvenir Africain, a waterfront plaza overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by portraits of prominent figures from Africa and its diaspora, to greet the flame ahead of the Youth Olympic Games next month.

The event, running from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, will bring together about 2,700 young athletes to compete in 35 sports across Dakar and the nearby cities of Diamniadio and Saly.

The Youth Olympics, first held in Singapore in 2010, are a smaller version of the Olympic Games for athletes aged 15 to 18.

The flame was carried on Saturday by 100 Senegalese women, known as “lingeer” — a title for queens or royal women in Wolof, one of the main languages of Senegal. They included influential actors from the cultural, sports and economic sectors.

Dressed in flowing orange and golden traditional dresses with yellow headwraps, they carried the flame to the plaza in a procession celebrating Senegalese women and the passing of values between generations.

Gacirah Diagne, one of the lingeer, said the Games will inspire young people across Africa, the continent with the world’s youngest population.

“Senegal is only the gateway to showcase a continent that is moving forward and looking to the future,” she said. “It is only natural that we support its youth.”

Senegalese basketball legend Mame Maty Mbengue lit the Olympic cauldron at the ceremony.

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, who is from Zimbabwe, said the Games will be a “proud moment” for Senegal and the continent.

“Everyone that comes to Senegal in a few weeks is going to leave it knowing that Africa and Senegal are capable and unstoppable, and our young generation are going to change the world,” Coventry told the gathered crowds.

The flame left the Greek capital, Athens, on Thursday, where it was lit using the sun’s rays and a parabolic mirror, following Olympic tradition, before being handed to Senegal at the Panathenaic Stadium.

It will begin a 3,600-kilometer tour of Senegal on Monday, traveling through all 14 regions with over 400 Senegalese torchbearers before returning to the capital for the official opening ceremony. MARK BANCHEREAU, DAKAR, MDT/AP