By Sumayya
DAKAR, Senegal: Music and dancing filled the streets of Senegal’s capital on Saturday to welcome the arrival of the Olympic flame, as a march by 100 females designated the countdown toward the primary Olympic athletic milestone organized inside Africa.
Hundreds of individuals assembled at Dakar’s Place du Souvenir Africain, a waterfront square overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, encircled by likenesses of prominent personalities from Africa and its diaspora, to greet the flame prior to the Youth Olympic Games next month.
The females transporting the flame remain identified as “lingeer” — a designation for queens or royal females in Wolof, one of the primary dialects of Senegal. Shrouded in flowing orange and golden traditional garments with yellow headbands, they transported the flame to the square in a parade honoring Senegalese females and the transmission of ethics between generations.
Senegalese basketball icon Mame Maty Mbengue ignited the Olympic furnace at the ritual. Kirsty Coventry, who originates from Zimbabwe and the chief of the International Olympic Committee, expressed the milestone will be a “proud instance” for Senegal and the continent.
“Everyone that travels to Senegal in a few weeks remains going to leave it recognizing that Africa and Senegal remain competent and unstoppable, and our young generation remain going to alter the world,” Coventry informed the assembled masses.
The flame departed the Greek capital, Athens, on Thursday, where it stood ignited using the solar rays and a parabolic glass, following Olympic heritage, prior to being delivered to Senegal at the Panathenaic Stadium.
The flame will commence a 3,600-kilometer (2,237-mile) journey of Senegal on Monday, traveling through all 14 regions with over 400 Senegalese torch-carriers prior to returning to the capital for the formal opening ritual.
The Youth Olympic Games, which will progress from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, gather roughly 2,700 young competitors to contend in 35 sports across Dakar and the adjacent municipalities Diamniadio and Saly.
The Youth Olympics, initially organized in Singapore in 2010, constitute a smaller variant of the Olympic Games for competitors aged 15 to 18.
