Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games: 17-year-old Egyptian Ali Zain secures the first African gold of the Games

Egyptian Ali Zain, 17, won the 100m butterfly final at the Youth Olympic Games on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at the Tour de l'Œuf complex in Dakar, with a time of 52.16 seconds. This is the first African gold medal of the first Olympic competition ever held on the continent's soil.

Two seconds ahead of the rest of the final

The gap says everything about the demonstration: Slovenian Aleksej Kalan, who finished second, touched the wall in 54.03 seconds, nearly two seconds later, reports Afriksoir. "Honestly, it was really crazy," the Egyptian swimmer reacted after his race, as quoted by the same media outlet.

His story adds to the title. "At the beginning, I didn't know how to swim," he says, before summarizing what followed: "I just worked hard and believed in myself. That is the key." Trained by coach Amr Elsayed, he already refuses comparisons to his predecessors: "I want to be the first Zain." According to Afriksoir, Senegalese-Italian creator Khaby Lame told him after the final: "This is the first medal of a long series."

Egypt continues its tradition in the pool

The country is no stranger to these Games: Ahmed Akram won the 800m freestyle in Nanjing in 2014 and Abdelrahman Sameh took bronze in the 50m freestyle in Buenos Aires in 2018, recalls Afriksoir. Less than two hours before Ali Zain's title, South Africa's Leah Markgraaff took silver in the 400m freestyle, an event where the gold went to Ecuador's Elvira Espinosa in 4 minutes and 22.87 seconds, the first champion of these Games, according to Le Soleil.

Four African countries already have medals

At the end of this first day of competition, the table published by Le Brief credited Egypt with one gold, South Africa with one silver, and Senegal and Zambia with one bronze each, out of 27 medals distributed to 25 nations.

The Youth Olympic Games continue until November 13, 2026, at venues in Dakar, Diamniadio, and Saly. Eight years after the edition was awarded to Senegal during the Buenos Aires session in 2018, and after a postponement from 2022 to 2026, the continent is no longer just hosting: it is winning.