Throughout the Paris Olympic Games, RFI will take you to meet African journalists passing through France to cover the event. Brought together as part of the CFI (Canal France International) Paris 2024 project, within a temporary editorial team, there are around fifteen of them producing articles and subjects for more than 270 African media outlets. Over the course of 15 days, you will discover how they perceive France and its capital at Olympic time… With irony, biting or astonishment. In this tenth episode of the series African Views on the Games, Senegalese journalist Youssouph Badji sees France as an example for the organization of the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Dakar in 2026.
” I was in London, I was in Rio and today I am in Paris. France has shown the world that it is a great nation in terms of organization, reception and hospitality. It is really great, at all levels, there is nothing to say, the transport, the reception system, really hats off. We are happy. »
Initially, Youssouph Badji had thought of handing over the baton to a junior journalist from his editorial staff. But just like the athletes from his country, he was selected by the Senegalese Olympic Committee to accompany the delegation. Present at Parishe is enjoying his third Olympic Games with a child’s perspective. Head of the Sports section of the Dakar daily Vox Populiand aged 55, he puts his experience at the service of his comrades
” The Olympic Games are a major event that is different from a basketball game that you have to watch at the Marie N’Diaye stadium, or a football game that you have to watch at the Abdoulaye Wade stadium. Habits change. Everyone has to adapt and you have to have a certain rigor in your work. »
For Youssouph, it starts well before the competitions. Although he has a pass to attend all the events, he must register in advance for each discipline he wants to follow within the limit of available places. In the transport and the city, everything is done so that sportsmen and tourists can meet there.
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“ France is the best »
For Youssouph, theAfrica should take inspiration from this organization. The continent will host an Olympic event on its soil in two years’ time for the first time. Dakar has been designated to host the fourth Youth Olympic Games and, for Youssouph, Paris 2024 is a model to follow.
“France is great. What France has offered us, what France has proposed to us, we have not seen that anywhere else. Really, we have reached a level of organization where everyone must copy France, starting with Senegal which, in two years, must host the Olympic world. 2026 is tomorrow, so as I see it, there is a big challenge to take up because France has set the bar very high. Even if it is not the same organization, it is for youth, it remains an organization that was entrusted by the IOC. So, we have to be very, very precise.”
In 2019, the organizing committees of Paris 2024 and Dakar 2026 have signed a cooperation agreement to enable the sharing of information and best practices for the success of both events. The “Dioko” alliance, which brings together French public and private stakeholders, was also created to help renovate and build sports infrastructure in Dakar, but also to help detect and train high-level athletes.
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