Alibaba Cloud to power digital services at Dakar 2026 Games
Alibaba Cloud will provide the digital infrastructure for the Summer Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, the first Olympic sporting event hosted in Africa.
The upcoming Games will be held in Senegal, marking the country as the first on the continent to organise an Olympic sporting event. This fourth edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games will take place across Dakar, Diamniadio, and Saly from late October to mid-November, bringing together 2,700 young athletes, all aged under 18, to compete in 35 sports.
Cloud support
As the official cloud service provider of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Alibaba Cloud will deliver a digital foundation aimed at improving operational efficiency and engagement among fans attending or following the Games. The company's Apsara Stack, a private cloud solution, will form the core IT infrastructure for the event, ensuring secure and scalable support for digital applications and services vital for planning, operations, logistics, and post-Games activities.
Explaining the objectives, Antoine Azokly, Head of Youth Olympic Games Technology & Energy at the International Olympic Committee, said:
As a result of our ongoing partnership, the integration of Alibaba Cloud's proven AI and cloud technology into Dakar 2026 exemplifies our shared commitment to making the Olympic events more efficient, sustainable and engaging. This collaboration will not only benefit the Youth Olympic Games but also leave a lasting digital legacy for sport in Africa.
The cooperation aims to utilise cloud and artificial intelligence technologies to support a range of core digital services. According to organisers, this approach is expected to facilitate both streamlined event management and enhanced experiences for spectators and participants.
Organisers' comments
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (YOGOC) anticipates that Alibaba Cloud's systems will help modernise Games operations and leave ongoing benefits for Senegal and the broader African sporting community.
Ibrahima Wade, General Coordinator of the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee, said:
As we prepare to host Africa's first Olympic event, partnering with Alibaba Cloud marks a crucial step in our journey to deliver a technologically advanced and seamlessly operated Youth Olympic Games. The implementation of Alibaba Cloud's digital technologies across our core services will not only ensure efficient Games operations but also create a lasting technological legacy that will benefit Senegal and the African sporting community long after the Games conclude.
The Apsara Stack platform chosen for Dakar 2026 will host a variety of digital applications and services required to meet the needs of the Games. It caters for planning, real-time operations, logistics management, as well as post-event reporting and analysis, with the intention of both enhancing the fan experience and ensuring efficient coordination among all stakeholders.
Technological features
An element highlighted for Dakar 2026 is Alibaba Cloud's support for digital flame services. These employ the company's latest advances in cloud and AI to create dynamic and immersive visual features for audiences globally, echoing the central role played by symbolic Olympic traditions in engaging attendees and viewers.
As part of the collaborative model, the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee, Alibaba Cloud, and the IOC have agreed to implement these technological solutions following discussions in Hangzhou, China.
The 2026 Games are the largest sporting undertaking by Senegal, and organisers expect the event's systems will also serve as a model for future sports events across the continent, aiming to advance digitalisation within African sport while leaving long-term operational tools and knowledge for use in local communities.
