International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry arrived in Senegal ahead of the first ever Olympic sporting event to be held in Africa, the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, which begin on 31 October. President Coventry touched down on her home continent on Monday night (26 October), greeted enthusiastically by volunteers and locals. The significance of the event being held on African soil resonates deeply with double Olympic champion Coventry, who won a total of seven Olympic medals for Zimbabwe in the swimming pool across five Olympic Games from Sydney 2000 through to Rio 2016.