French archer Lisa Barbelin, bronze medalist in women’s individual archery at the Paris 2024 Olympics, is the featured guest on Thursday’s edition of the Youth Olympic Games daily program broadcast live from Dakar, RFI reported. The Paris 2024 bronze medalist appears on “Un soir aux Jeux,” the program that breaks down each day of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games with reporters on the ground and studio analysts, where Thursday’s host Olivier Pron welcomes her as a guest.
Barbelin is also one of the 36 athlete models designated by the International Olympic Committee for the Dakar Games.
What the role-model program means for Dakar 2026
The 36 athlete models are embedded in the Youth Olympic Games program, working alongside athletes aged roughly 14 to 18 from across the world. Their role is to share experience from elite competition — training, pressure management, life alongside sport — with a generation that, for many, is experiencing an Olympic environment for the first time. The IOC has used the athlete role-model format at each edition of the Youth Games since the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Barbelin’s selection fits the profile the IOC typically looks for: a recent Olympic medalist still active at the top of her sport. She won her individual bronze medal at Paris 2024, the Games held in her home country, and has since remained part of the French national archery setup.
Thursday’s broadcast from Dakar
“Un soir aux Jeux” is the daily appointment for coverage of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, airing live from the Senegalese capital with field reporters and studio consultants reviewing the day’s action. Thursday, November 5, the program is hosted by Olivier Pron, with Barbelin joining him in the studio segment.
The format matters at a Youth Olympics because the competition schedule is dense across many sports in a short window, and the daily program is where results, standout performances and athlete stories are collected in one place for viewers following from outside Senegal.
Dakar 2026: the first Olympic event on African soil
The 2026 Youth Olympic Games mark the first Olympic event of any kind to be held in Africa, with Dakar hosting the summer edition. The Youth Olympics are the IOC’s third Olympic event alongside the Summer and Winter Games, staged every four years and built around sport, culture and education programs in addition to competition.
For Senegal, hosting the Games in Dakar puts the country at the center of the Olympic movement for the first time, with venues spread across the capital and the surrounding region.
What happens next in Dakar
The Games continue Friday, November 6, with competition across the full program and the next edition of the daily Dakar broadcast in the evening. Barbelin’s appearance Thursday is part of the role-model programming spread across the Games, with other designated athletes scheduled to appear in the coming days.
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