By GPC Sports Reporter
Six refugee athletes are set to make their Youth Olympic Games debut in Dakar, Senegal, in a historic appearance that will mark the first time the refugee team competes at the youth showpiece on African soil.
The Games will run from October 31 to November 13, with Dakar becoming the first African city to host the Youth Olympic Games. The refugee team will compete in athletics, judo and taekwondo.
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The squad comprises Rashid Rechene, Florence Masimbi, Clement Niyomuhoza, Nyataba Kuek, Lourance Namukiza and Arno Yfunga, who say they are ready for the challenge after weeks of intensive preparation in Kenya.
The athletes have been training at Complete Sports in Kaptagat, Uasin Gishu County, where they have combined physical preparation with mental conditioning while building team cohesion ahead of their first Olympic experience.
Double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge, who serves as a World Athletics Refugee Athletes mentor, said refugees deserve the opportunity to pursue their dreams and demonstrate their abilities through sport.
The team’s preparations come against the backdrop of rising global displacement, with UNHCR estimating that more than 117 million people are currently forcibly displaced worldwide.
In East and Southern Africa alone, there are an estimated 6.4 million refugees and asylum seekers, almost half of them children.
The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Refuge Foundation have brought the team together with support from the National Olympic Committees of Kenya and Uganda, World Athletics, Athletics Kenya, UNHCR, and the national judo and taekwondo federations.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya First Deputy President Barnaba Korir said the athletes had been given a valuable opportunity to showcase their talents on the global stage.
“Kenya has given them a chance to compete in school games and Athletics Kenya events. We want to show the world that they are able to compete at the global stage and see what Kenyans have done,” Korir said.
The team’s Chef de Mission, Yiech Pur Biel, is equally optimistic, particularly with the Games being staged in Africa.
“Dakar will mean a lot for Africa and refugees. It means a lot to us because Africa hosts the largest number of refugees. They are creating chances for talents in Africa and the globe,” Biel said.
The refugee team, selected from Kenya and Uganda, will compete against athletes representing their respective countries.
For 16-year-old Rashid Rechene, a 200m sprinter from Congo who sought refuge in Uganda, the Games represent an opportunity to prove what refugee youth can achieve.
“Dakar 2026 is a great chance for us as refugee youth. The training is good and we like the facility. I have made progress in my speed and time. I now know my potential and I’m sprinting better and faster,” Rechene said.
Fellow 16-year-old sprinter Florence Masimbi said the team had drawn immense motivation from its coaches and mentors as the athletes prepare to chase medals in Dakar.
Nyataba Kuek, 17, and Clement Niyomuhoza, 16, will compete in the 800m, while Arno Yfunga will represent the team in judo and Lourance Namukiza in taekwondo.
World Athletics representative Alice Annibali said the global athletics governing body was working with Athletics Kenya to integrate refugee athletes into local competitions, including cross-country, while also strengthening safeguarding measures.
