Australia finishes Dakar Youth Olympics with six medals as first Games in Africa close

Australia has finished the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, with six medals: four silver and two bronze. It was the first Olympic event hosted in Africa.

Boxer Marley Dodd won silver in the men's 55kg. Mackenzie Macdonald won silver in the 49kg taekwondo, Australia's first taekwondo medal at a Youth Olympics. Cyclists Elsie Apps (silver, women's road race) and Caleb McKenzie (bronze, men's road race) medalled on the same day. McKenzie, from Tasmania, was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease earlier this year and led the race in a breakaway until the final lap before sprinting for bronze.

Queensland beach volleyball pair Thomas Turner and Ryan Edgar took bronze. Australia's women's rugby sevens team lost the gold-medal match to Kenya in extra time and took silver; it was Kenya's first Olympic rugby sevens title.

Apps and Dodd carried the flag at the closing ceremony. Chef de Mission Kenny Wallace said the results gave him positivity heading towards LA28 and Brisbane 2032.

Nearly 2,700 athletes aged 14 to 17 competed in 25 sports and 153 medal events over two weeks. IOC President Kirsty Coventry said expectations had been far exceeded. South Africa is among countries in talks with the IOC about hosting the 2036 Games. China led golds with 18, ahead of Japan on 11 and Russia on eight.

McKenzie said illness had kept him off the bike and unable to train for a long period before he rebuilt his form late in the year. He credited the confidence discussed within the team before racing. Apps said her sprint to silver left her grateful for the opportunity and hungry for a chance to reach Brisbane 2032.

Wallace said Dakar had been intended as an important milestone for emerging Australians, teaching them what belonging to an Australian team means. He hoped to see some of the same athletes in Brisbane. That is a development aim, not a promise that a Youth Olympics medal guarantees a senior Olympic place.

Senegal celebrated beach wrestling's Olympic debut, with 16-year-old Elisabeth Diatta winning the host nation's first gold. Baseball5, skateboarding and wushu also made Youth Olympic debuts. In the gold-medal standings, Egypt followed China, Japan and Russia with six, while Ethiopia and Senegal won five each.

The first summer Youth Olympics took place in Singapore in 2010. The IOC has paused selection of a host for the next edition, due in 2030, while reviewing the event and adding Dakar's data to its analysis. Coventry said only 15 per cent of Youth Olympics participants had later competed in the full Olympics. She called for a realistic view of the event's purpose and how the movement engages young people.

Jess Fox and Emma McKeown were cited as Australian examples who turned Youth Olympic gold into senior success, with 20 Summer Olympics medals between them. South Africa's interest in 2036, following its hosting of the men's 2010 football World Cup, remains part of discussions rather than an awarded Olympic hosting right.

Illustrative empty running track, not a Dakar Games venue or any athlete.