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For the first time in the history of the Youth Olympic Games, a Refugee Olympic
For the first time in the history of the Youth Olympic Games, a Refugee Olympic Team is competing alongside national squads. The Games are being held in Dakar, Senegal, making them the first Youth Olympics staged on the African continent. Six young athletes drawn from refugee settlements in Kenya and Uganda are competing in athletics, judo and taekwondo. Their chef de mission, Yiech Biel, grew up in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp. Refugee teams have appeared at three earlier Olympic events — Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024 — but this is the first time one has entered the Youth Games, an occasion that organisers and the UN refugee agency describe as a historic milestone. Observers point to Dakar as a signal that the Olympic movement is directing attention toward new parts of the world. What does it mean to you when international competition opens its doors to athletes who have no national flag to carry?