The first Olympic event ever staged in Africa opens in Dakar on Saturday 31 October, and Zambia will be there with six athletes. The National Olympic Committee of Zambia named the team at a send-off at the Senegalese embassy in Lusaka on Sunday 25 October: Elisha Zimba in judo, Bhardwaj Anjuman in badminton, Sibongile Miti, Joshua Mulenga and Edward Cole in swimming, and Nathan Matete in athletics. The Youth Olympic Games run until 13 November.
Six is a small team, and the NOCZ explained why. It applied for 115 athlete places, it said, and received six through the quota process run by the international federations, the IOC and the host, which allocates places by sport rather than by country. The four coaches are Ian Stephenson for swimming, Donald Mabo for badminton, Chipoma Mulenga for athletics and Ndungu Mwitumwa for judo. Besa Chibwe is chef de mission, with Monica Lombe as deputy, with a games administrator, welfare officer, physiotherapist, doctor and press attaché completing the delegation.
The record to beat
In a speech read by vice-president Nakaonga Kakoma, NOCZ president Alfred Foloko said Zambia had won four medals at three previous Youth Olympic Games, one gold, two silver and one bronze, and expressed confidence that the six would represent the country with honour. The acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts, Gibson Muyaule, who officiated, called the Games a historic milestone for the continent and urged the athletes to behave as ambassadors and to observe anti-doping rules. Senegal's consul-general, Sow Maguette, described the Games as Africa's chance to show it can host major international events, and NOCZ secretary-general Boniface Kambikambi told the athletes the Games were about experience and friendship as much as medals.
We have confidence in these young athletes and believe they will represent Zambia with honour.
— Alfred Foloko, NOCZ president, in a speech read at the team's send-off at the Senegalese embassy in Lusaka on Sunday 25 October, as published by the NOCZ
For Zambia the three swimmers are the largest contingent, and the places are spread across four sports and four coaches for six athletes. Competition schedules by sport are published by the organisers; the NOCZ had not, by Friday, published its athletes' individual event dates, and this desk will carry results as they are reported.
Sources: National Olympic Committee of Zambia, “Team Zambia Officially Sent Off Ahead of Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games” (25 Oct 2026).