Six young athletes from refugee communities in Kenya and Uganda are making history at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, becoming the first refugee team to compete at the event.
The team, established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and managed by the Olympic Refuge Foundation, is competing in athletics, judo and taekwondo at the Games, which run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.
The athletes are Arno, competing in judo; Clement and Nyataba, in the 800 metres; Florence and Rachid, in the 200 metres; and Lourance, in taekwondo. The team has equal representation of male and female athletes.
One of the athletes attracting attention is 15-year-old judoka Arno Yafunga, who fled conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with his family in 2017 and settled in Kenya.
His father, Arnold Yafunga, who is also his coach, continued practising judo after the family arrived in Kenya and introduced the sport to his son.
Arno said the discipline and focus required in judo had helped him avoid negative influences in Nairobi, where he now lives.
He narrowly missed a medal after losing the bronze-medal contest in the boys’ 55-kilogram category. His teammates were present to support him during the competition.
His father said the sport had given Arno direction and an opportunity to pursue ambitions that displacement might otherwise have interrupted.
Another team member, 16-year-old Florence Masumbe, competes in the women’s 200 metres. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she grew up in Uganda’s Rwamwanja refugee settlement.
Masumbe was identified through Game Connect, a programme supported by the Olympic Refuge Foundation that uses sport to promote mental well-being and strengthen relationships between refugees and host communities.
She said she hoped her participation would encourage other displaced children to pursue their ambitions and demonstrate that refugee athletes could compete and succeed at international events.
The Refugee Youth Olympic Team is part of the IOC’s broader efforts to expand sporting opportunities for displaced people and raise awareness of the challenges they face.
The IOC said the six athletes were selected through programmes and trials in Kenya and Uganda. The team is composed entirely of athletes based in Africa and has equal representation of women and men.
The Dakar Games, the fourth edition of the Youth Olympic Games, are also the first Olympic sporting event to be hosted on African soil. They have brought together about 2,700 athletes aged up to 17, representing more than 200 delegations.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that more than 117 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2025, including millions across sub-Saharan Africa.
For the young athletes, participation represents both a sporting opportunity and a chance to challenge perceptions about refugees, showing that displacement does not end the possibility of pursuing ambitious goals.
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