Accra, Ghana, October 29, 2026: Ghana will send 13 athletes to the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) announced on 17 September. They compete in athletics, badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, judo, swimming, table tennis and taekwondo.
Six of the 13 are girls. Evans Yeboah, who also presides over Ghana Badminton, leads the delegation as Chef de Mission. A technical, medical, safeguarding, administrative and government team supports the squad.
Who is going to Dakar 2026 from Ghana?
Team Ghana for Dakar 2026, as announced by the Ghana Olympic Committee on 17 September 2026.
Swimming sends the most athletes, with two girls and two boys entered in three or four events each. Athletics fields one girl and one boy in the 400m hurdles. Every other sport has a single athlete, except beach volleyball, where two boys form a pair.
The GOC says the athletes qualified through International Federation pathways. Ghana has competed at every Youth Olympics since Singapore 2010.
How does Dakar compare with Ghana's earlier Youth Olympic teams?
Ghana sent 10 athletes in five sports to Nanjing in 2014. Martha Bissah won the girls' 800m there, Ghana's first Olympic gold of any kind.
Buenos Aires 2018 was smaller. Ghana sent five athletes in four sports, with one girl, a weightlifter, and won no medals. Dakar's 13 athletes and six girls make this Ghana's largest squad of those two editions.
What are Ghana's medal chances in Dakar?
Officials sound hopeful. GOC President Richard Akpokavie said the team is "positive that we'll do well". Yeboah has said the squad has the potential to win medals and urged athletes to use the historic chance.
In June, Ghana Badminton named badminton the country's flagship medal prospect, citing six medals at the African Youth Games. That statement came from the federation Yeboah leads, and Ghana enters one badminton player, Andy Amofa, in the men's singles.
Gender Lens Africa found no published medal target. We also noticed a change in the sports list. In June, the GOC said nine sports had qualified, including fencing. The final squad covers eight and has no fencer. We found no public explanation.
How much is Ghana spending on Dakar 2026?
Neither the GOC nor the Ministry of Sports and Recreation has published a budget for the Dakar delegation. Gender Lens Africa searched official statements and news coverage up to 29 October 2026 and found no figure.
This is what is on the record:
• Commonwealth Games money, not Dakar money. Parliament approved GH₵12 million for the GOC's Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games preparations. In May, Akpokavie said no funds had reached the GOC and that the committee was preparing athletes for both the Commonwealth Games and the Youth Olympics. We found no public update confirming a release.
• The GOC is fundraising. It said it had raised some independent funds and appealed to corporate Ghana for support. In September it again called on corporate Ghana and sports fans to back Team Ghana.
• A new sports fund. Sports Minister Kofi Adams told the GOC earlier this year that the recently introduced Ghana Sports Fund would ease funding pressure. He urged long-term investment over last-minute funding and asked the GOC to work transparently with stakeholders.
• Olympic Solidarity. The IOC has allocated US$19.5 million to youth development programmes for 2025 to 2028, with a focus on African NOCs. Ghana's share is not public.
Public disputes over bonuses and allowances for national teams this year show why the detail matters. Part three covers the women's teams.
What the GOC and the ministry should publish
• The total budget for the Dakar delegation.
• How it splits between government, the GOC, corporate partners and the IOC.
• Whether the approved Commonwealth Games funds were released, and how both Games were shared.
• The cost per athlete, and any allowances or bonuses for athletes, coaches and officials.
• The gender breakdown of the coaches and officials travelling with the squad.
