"VAN" (Sports Desk - 11.05.2026) :: Amid the ongoing restructuring process at the International Olympic Committee, under President Kirsty Coventry’s “Fit for the Future” (F4F) initiative, the host election process for the 2030 Youth Olympics plans as well as plans to launch an Olympic Esports Games have been put on hold, while the Olympic body reassesses its priorities.
THE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES Following a two-day Executive Board meeting held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Coventry announced the IOC’s decision to pause and rethink its entire youth strategy.
“We need to pause and have a real reflection on why we’re doing the Youth Olympic Games and we realized that across the Movement it’s very disjointed. There’s not a true North Star of why we’re doing the Youth Olympic Games,” Kirsty Coventry said during an online press conference.
The EB made the decision based on the “somewhat inconclusive results” of a survey that was sent last month to all National Olympic Committees and International Federations regarding the YOG. The pause will “allow time for reflection on the core objectives of holding the YOG and for the IOC to focus on a holistic Olympic Youth Strategy”.
Three cities - Asunción, Paraguay; Bangkok, Thailand; and Santiago, Chile - were set to take part in a June election for the host the 2030 YOG, which was initially on the agenda for the IOC Extraordinary Session.
FULLY COMMITTED The next edition of the Youth Olympics, which were launched in Singapore in 2010, will take place in Dakar, Senegal, from 31 October to 13 November 2026, marking the first time an Olympic event will be held in Africa. Italy’s Dolomiti Valtellina is set to host a Winter edition in 2028.
“We are fully committed to the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar coming up very shortly and to those in 2028 in Italy and we’ll continue to work with them, but we felt that it was the right time, instead of awarding any future Games to really look at what it is we want this event to be for us and what it is we want to develop and how we want to really and truly engage with the young audiences around the world,” Coventry said.
IMPORTANT MILESTONE The Extraordinary 146th IOC Session on 24 and 25 June in Lausanne, Switzerland will mark the beginning of a new phase in the F4F initiative, according to Coventry.
So far, nine working groups have been established under the initiative to address top priority areas. They are: Olympic Programme, Protection of the female category, Commercial Partnerships and Marketing, Protection of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, Olympic Games Delivery, Autonomy, Ethics and Good Governance, Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Better World Through Sport, Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS).
Additionally, two IOC commissions are also engaged in the process: the Future Host Commission, and the Athletes’ Commission.
OLYMPIC ESPORTS Although the Esports Commission has now been suspended, President Coventry said the IOC’s esports ambitions are still “very much alive”, but “it is really about timing”.
“Esports is sitting under my Executive Office. I have been working with an expert in the field.
“But for now we are focusing on our core business and trying to make strong future strategies for the core business first while still working very clearly on what potential there could be for esports and what that would look like.”
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