Lin Yilei Wins First-Ever Olympic Wushu Gold Medal at Dakar Youth Olympics

Chinese athletes and young cultural ambassadors are leaving their mark at the Dakar 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, where a teenage wushu fighter won the first Olympic gold medal in his sport’s history and a 30-year-old jewelry livestreamer carried the Olympic torch through the capital, Sohu reported.

The Games, underway in the Senegalese capital this month, have seen China’s youth delegation collect medals across wushu, swimming, rowing and judo, according to the report.

Lin Yilei wins first Olympic wushu gold

Wushu made its debut as an official competition event in the Olympic series at this year’s Youth Games — a step the report describes as recognition of a traditional culture and of young athletes’ potential.

In the men’s changquan all-around final, China’s Lin Yilei delivered a fluid, steady routine with full-score execution quality and took gold, the first wushu gold medal in Olympic history, Sohu reported.

His coach, Zheng Jutian, said the moment fulfilled a long-held dream. “Wushu entering the Olympic Games for the first time realized our dream,” Zheng said, adding that it stood behind the efforts of generation after generation of wushu practitioners.

Wushu as a bridge between young people

For Lin, the sport is more than competition. He said wushu can serve as a bridge connecting young people from different countries and regions, letting the world see Eastern wisdom, and he hopes to use the Youth Olympic platform to pass on the harmony the sport embodies to young people around the world.

Liu Chuandong carries the torch in Dakar

The Games also carry special significance as the first Olympic-series event held in Africa, giving Chinese and African youth a rare space to meet and talk, Sohu reported.

During the torch relay days earlier, Chinese national Liu Chuandong ran with the flame and said young people from different countries build connections by running and talking side by side. Regardless of skin color or borders, he said, young people find common ground in shared passions.

Liu, 30, was born in Dazhou, Sichuan, and grew up in Shanwei, Guangdong, and works as a jewelry livestreamer. He became a torchbearer after approval from the Dakar 2026 organizing committee. During the relay he told foreign friends about the craft and industry behind jewelry, sharing the beauty of Chinese culture. He believes that with hard work, ordinary things can be made extraordinary.

First Olympic-series event on African soil

The Youth Olympics serve as both a stepping stone for young athletes toward the senior Games and a platform for youth from different countries to showcase themselves and build understanding.

Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, chairman of the Dakar 2026 organizing committee, said young people gathering together is wonderful — they get to know each other, exchange contact details and spend time together. In his view, the venue is not a win-or-lose battlefield but a stage for victory and life.

Young fans gather along Dakar’s coastal boulevard

During the Games, a Youth Olympic sports interactive experience zone on the coastal boulevard in western Dakar drew large numbers of young people, where visitors try different sports through hands-on activities and feel the appeal of the Olympics, according to the report.

The Youth Olympics display not only the athletic talent of young people from different countries but also serve as a celebration of cultural exchange. As the Games draw to a close, the encounters that crossed mountains and seas will be remembered for a long time, the report noted. Liu said the torch relay carries not just the flame but also the exchange and resonance between young people across borders, and he pledged to keep doing public welfare work, staying grounded and bringing hope and strength to more people.

At this year’s Games, Chinese youth have shown athletic excellence on the field of play and built bridges of communication through cultural exchange, using the Youth Olympic stage to show the world who they are and to pass on the spirit of harmony and friendship.

Questions readers are asking about Dakar 2026

China’s Lin Yilei, in the men’s changquan all-around final at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics.

Liu Chuandong, a 30-year-old jewelry livestreamer born in Dazhou, Sichuan, and raised in Shanwei, Guangdong, who was approved as a torchbearer by the organizing committee.

More on this story: Wushu Makes Historic Olympic Series Debut in Dakar · Dakar Youth Olympic Games Opens With Swimming And Wushu Events

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