Belarusian athletes prepare to perform at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar

On October 31, the Youth Olympic Games will start in the capital of Senegal, Dakar. They will gather about 2,700 young athletes from more than 200 countries. For two weeks, the guys will argue for awards in 25 sports. Among those who will compete for them are Belarusian athletes.

The National Olympic Committee was ready to apply for the upcoming Games in Dakar athletes in 15 types of programs. But since the Youth Olympics (and in principle the Olympic start) on the African continent will be held for the first time, the International Olympic Committee sent a significant part of the quotas to popularize sports in Africa. Our team was offered seven athletes in six sports. The composition has already been determined: in breaking Belarus will be represented by Georgy Solovey, in judo competitions by Alexander Knyazev, in swimming by Polina Belyavskaya and Maxim Mashlyakevich, in archery by Gleb Akunevich, in fencing by Denis Maslov, in taekwondo by Bogdan Aliyev.

Despite the young age (all participants of the Games are under 18 years old), our guys have already managed to feel the winning emotions at international competitions. Taekwondist Bogdan Aliyev, for example, a few weeks ago became a silver medalist of the German Open, fencer Denis Maslov in September took gold at the all-Russian competitions “Baltic Start”, and archer Gleb Akunevich last year entered the six strongest at the world championship among juniors. Maxim Mashlyakevich and Polina Belyavskaya returned with gold awards from the international swimming competitions Ganja Cup in Azerbaijan, Alexandra Knyazeva became the prize-winner of the Asian Judo Cup, and among the significant achievements of George Solovya - victory at the prestigious international breaking tournament in Portugal, getting into the top 6 at the WDSF International Series Youth tournament. So the composition of the Belarusians, albeit small, but combat.

The Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar will be only the fourth such start in history. Initially, they were supposed to take place in 2022, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, their implementation was postponed. From all previous Summer Games, our athletes returned with medals. In 2010, Belarusians won six awards in Singapore, one of which was gold. In 2014, our athletes climbed the podium nine times in Nanjing, five of them to the highest level. In 2018, Belarusian sportsmen won nine medals in Buenos Aires, including two gold medals.

Among those who climbed the pedestals of the Youth Olympic Games in past years, many famous athletes. This is, for example, Anastasia Shkurdai. In Buenos Aires, our swimmer won two awards - silver and bronze. Returning from Argentina, Nastya said that these Games were a good rehearsal for the adult Olympics, to get to which it was her dream. She succeeded: at the Games in Tokyo, she reached the final on the hundred-meter butterfly, where she took eighth place. With the same result, but at a distance of 200 meters on the back, Shkurdai finished her performance at the Olympics in Paris in 2024. Despite the fact that at the main starts of the four years, the awards have not yet been submitted to our swimmer, she twice became a bronze medalist of the world championships (on long and short water), more than once climbed the pedestal at the World Cup stages and confidently ranks among the leaders of the national team.

From the Games-2018 with bronze returned the representative of women’s wrestling Natalia Varakina. In the following years, she also won not only at republican, but also at international tournaments: she became the winner of the European Youth Championship, bronze medalist of the adult continental forum, was among the five strongest at the world championship among athletes under 23 years old. Judoist Artem Kolosov, who became a two-time champion of the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, this season won the stage of the African Open Judo Championship in Tunisia and became a bronze medalist of the Pan-American Championship

The winners and prize-winners of the Youth Olympic Games as part of the Belarusian team can be told for a long time. But did you know that in 2018, the first and so far the only two-time Olympic champion in trampoline jumping Ivan Litvinovich fought for the awards of the multisport forum? Belarusian confidently won the qualification, but in the final almost jumped to the pedestal. Three years later, Ivan proved that he had learned his lesson in Buenos Aires. After winning the Olympics in Tokyo, the trampoline said:

- After the preliminary stage, I was happy and at the same time very responsible that I performed most successfully and nominated a group of candidates for the Olympic awards. Recall that at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires I also won the qualification, but in the end I took only fourth place. Do not believe me, but the internal tension before going to the trampoline at me was off scale, because at stake was a medal! There are very strong rivals around. Fortune was on my side and I am happy to have won gold. It is a unique feeling to be an Olympic champion

Photo from open sources