Who are the Linguères, the women who will welcome the YOG Flame to Dakar?

In 50 days, on 31 October, the Opening Ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games will officially mark the start of the first Olympic sporting event to be held on African soil. 

While the world is set to gather in Senegal in a month and a half, the Olympic Flame of the Youth Olympic Games has already been lit. 

The Flame was lit during a solemn and symbolic ceremony held on Thursday 10 September at the iconic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece, in the presence of a large Senegalese delegation. 

A procession of 100 women 

Following its lighting, the arrival of the Dakar 2026 YOG Flame in Senegal, the first African country to host an Olympic sporting event on its soil, will be another landmark moment. 

Ahead of this highly anticipated arrival, 100 women have been selected by the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee. They will welcome the Flame to Dakar during a ceremony on Saturday 12 September, near Place du Souvenir Africain on the Corniche. 

They are students, intellectuals, athletes, entrepreneurs, artists and activists. From different generations and backgrounds, they share a commitment to promoting Senegal and Africa around the world and to making a positive contribution to their communities through their work. 

A respected figure of power 

“The Linguère was not only the wife or mother of the king; she was often his inspiration,” said Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, President of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee, in his speech at the Flame Lighting Ceremony in Athens on Thursday 10 September. 

“The Linguère was the one who made and unmade crowns, the guardian of lands, lineages and the word that had been given,” he added. 

“These elegant women have therefore been entrusted with the founding gesture; it is in their hands that the lighting will begin,” Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye explained, referring to the Flame Welcome Ceremony on Saturday 12 September. 

“Highlighting African women” 

The decision to spotlight African women, and more specifically the figure of the Linguère, during the Dakar 2026 YOG Flame Welcome Ceremony was the idea of Yacine Fall. A member of the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee, she is a Project Manager within the Engagement Department. 

“This is a first for Africa, so our idea was to highlight African women from all walks of life. Women are at the foundation of everything in our societies. It was therefore symbolic that women should be the ones to welcome and receive the Flame before passing it on to the people,” she explained. 

Carried by these 100 exceptional women, worthy heirs to the Linguères of the past, the YOG Flame is now set to illuminate Senegal’s capital. 

More than a sporting symbol, this welcome, firmly rooted in history, celebrates Senegal as a unique meeting point for youth, culture and Olympism on the African continent.