Four African countries win medals on the first finals day of Dakar 2026
Egypt's Zain Ali took gold in the pool, South Africa's Leah Markgraaff won silver, and judo bronzes went to Senegal's Matar Diop and Zambia's Elisha Zimba.
Dakar — Africa won four of the 27 medals decided on Sunday, the first day of finals at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, and each went to a different country.
Africa's first four medals
- Gold: Zain Ali (Egypt), boys' 100m butterfly, 52.16.
- Silver: Leah Markgraaff (South Africa), girls' 400m freestyle, 4:26.13.
- Bronze: Matar Diop (Senegal), judo, under-66kg.
- Bronze: Elisha Zimba (Zambia), judo, under-55kg.
Senegal's first medal at its own Games
Matar Diop gave the host nation its first medal at the Dakar Expo Center. He lost his quarter-final to Ukraine's Khazar Heydarov, who went on to win gold, then fought back through the repechage, beating Jamaica's Larone Gow. His bronze contest against France's Nathan Gbingbehi was level when regulation time ran out and went to golden score, where Diop won it with a waza-ari after 17 seconds.
Zambia's Elisha Zimba took the same route to bronze at under-55kg, winning his last contest by ippon in 1min 14sec against Saudi Arabia's Mutaz Hebah. Botswana's Theresa Tagarira finished one contest short of a medal at under-44kg.
Alone under 54 seconds
Africa's only title of the day came in the pool. Zain Ali led the 100m butterfly final at the turn in 24.18 and touched in 52.16, 1.87 seconds ahead of Serbia's Aleksej Kalanj. Nobody else in the final broke 54 seconds. Kenya's Jeremy Rieck finished sixth.
Hours earlier, 17-year-old Leah Markgraaff had won the first medal event of the Games for the continent. She led the 400m freestyle at 100m and finished second behind Ecuador's Elvira Espinosa. "To bring home our first medal is incredibly special to me," she told Team SA. Tunisia's Ilef Zouaghi, 14, came fifth.
South Africa chase sevens gold today
South Africa's sevens team won all three pool matches, beating Senegal 43-5, Canada 24-17 and Germany 34-7, and meet Argentina in Monday's semi-final. The final is set for 17:05 GMT. Senegal's women opened their futsal tournament with an 8-1 win over Fiji, and Kenya won all three of their baseball5 group games.
Only eight of the 153 events had been decided by Sunday night. Athletics begins on 8 November.
Source: Sport News Africa, 2 November 2026.
