Surfing will not award a single medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. The sport appears at the Games only as a demonstration discipline, outside the 25 sports in competition — a disappointment for Senegal’s young surfers, who saw a rare chance to win on the Ngor wave they have known since childhood, RFI reported.
In the turquoise water of Ngor Bay, at the tip of the Dakar peninsula, eight surfers from African countries — South Africa, Angola, Liberia, Mozambique and Ghana — waited offshore the island of Ngor, boards launching as a demonstration organized on the sidelines of the Games got underway.
The event is meant to “show the whole world how Africa surfs,” said René Pierre Laraise, technical director of the Senegalese surf federation. Few settings could suit that ambition better than Ngor’s wave, which entered surf history through the film The Endless Summer. “Surf entered Senegal through this right-hander,” Laraise said. “The first images date from 1966. Since then, people have surfed at Ngor.”
Ngor’s wave has carried Senegalese surf since 1966
On the rocks, Assane Guèye and Mame Seydi Mbengue watched the demonstration without missing a moment. Assane, 16, followed a friend into the waves before falling in love with surfing. An admirer of Brazil’s Gabriel Medina, he loves competition and already sees himself turning professional.
Beside him, Mame Seydi, 15, has surfed since he was seven and took his first license at the Malika Surf club. His idol is another Brazilian, Yago Dora, and he dreams of a career modeled on his.
Dreams of Medina and Dora, but no sponsors
The path remains difficult. “We lack equipment and sponsors to train better and challenge the champions around the world,” Mame Seydi said.
Tidiane Ndour has watched that passion grow. A former goalkeeper for Olympique de Ngor who played in Senegal’s top football division, he still marvels at seeing “children as young as nine challenging two-meter waves.” He also knows the downside of the enthusiasm: some youngsters, he said, abandon school to spend their days at the spots, training even without wetsuits during the coldest months. Opening an international pathway for them, he said, requires more resources.
Nine-year-olds on two-meter waves — and school left behind
Marc, a French sculptor settled in Ngor for 26 years, has observed the same transformation. He took up surfing about 15 years ago to share the activity with his children. Today he watches five- to twelve-year-olds progress at a speed that astonishes him. “The big evolution is the democratization of surfing,” he said. “Elders, including Chérif Fall, showed the way. Children watch them with shining eyes, and parents, once more reluctant, now see opportunities in the sport.”
Chérif Fall, a nine-time Senegalese champion, came to support the younger riders. But he regrets that no surf event lets them compete at the Youth Olympic Games. “There is a very good level here,” he said, among girls as well as boys. A competition would have given them the chance to measure themselves against others and progress. In his view, surfing remains less known in Senegal than football and is still concentrated at a few spots, notably Ngor and Ouakam.
A lost medal chance on water the locals know perfectly
Michel Bourez, a former French champion, goes further. In his view, the absence of surfing from the program represents “a lost medal chance” for Senegal. “The country’s young surfers could have made the difference on a wave they know perfectly,” he said.
For Assane Guèye, the goal is simple and direct: “I want to earn money through surfing.”
Worth a look
