Senegalese Wrestlers Secure Three Gold Medals at Dakar Youth Olympics

Host nation Senegal recorded multiple victories in beach wrestling at the Youth Olympic Games in Saly, with 16-year-old Elisabeth Diatta securing the country's first gold medal of the competition on November 7. Diatta defeated Japan’s Reisa Kojima 5-1 in the women’s 55-kilogram final. Senegal's wrestlers spent three months at an intensive training camp to adapt traditional techniques to the international beach wrestling format.

Diatta, a former football player from the southern region of Casamance, entered competitive wrestling after replacing her injured older sister Jeannine at a regional sports camp tournament. According to Diatta, adults in her community initially discouraged her from pursuing the sport, stating that wrestling would make her less feminine. Her coach, two-time Olympian Isabelle Sambou, described the victory as the fulfillment of an ambition she had sought during her own competing career.

In the boys’ 80-kilogram final held later the same day, 16-year-old Maguette Diop won Senegal’s second gold medal by defeating Nihad Suleymanli of Azerbaijan 4-0. The match initially saw referee points awarded to Suleymanli, but a video challenge requested by the Senegalese coaching staff resulted in the score being reversed in Diop's favour. The win came two months after Diop lost to Iran’s Reza Jalilian in the semifinals of the under-17 world championships in Baku on August 27.

The host nation earned a third wrestling gold medal the following day when Ndeye Khady Anna Diatta won the women’s 45-kilogram category. Following her victory, Ndeye Khady Anna Diatta stated that she hoped the team's performance would encourage more young women to enter the sport. By Thursday, Senegal stood sixth in the overall medal table, with beach wrestling accounting for three of the nation's five gold medals.

Beach wrestling at the Games takes place in three-minute bouts inside a circular sand ring, where competitors earn single points for takedowns or forcing opponents out of bounds, and three points for throwing an opponent onto their back. Traditional Senegalese wrestling, known as Laamb, does not use a point system and instead awards victory based on a single decisive fall onto the opponent's back, knees, or hands. The Youth Olympic Games, running from October 31 to November 13 across Dakar, Saly, and Diamniadio, mark the first time an Olympic sporting event has been hosted on the African continent.

Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com