Australia finishes Dakar Youth Olympics with six medals
The Australian team collected four silvers and two bronzes, with medals across boxing, taekwondo, cycling, beach volleyball and rugby sevens.
Australian athletes have finished the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal with four silver medals and two bronze, as Africa hosted an Olympic event for the first time.
Cycling contributed two podium finishes: Elsie Apps took silver in the women's road race, while Tasmania's Caleb McKenzie earned bronze in the men's event. McKenzie, who had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, stayed ahead in a breakaway until the final lap before sprinting to third.
Marley Dodd secured silver in men's 55kg boxing. Mackenzie Macdonald also reached the podium in the 49kg taekwondo category, becoming Australia's first medallist in the sport at a Youth Olympics.
Thomas Turner and Ryan Edgar, the Queensland beach volleyball pair, took bronze. Australia's women's rugby sevens side finished with silver after losing in extra time to Kenya, which won its first Olympic rugby sevens title.
Apps and Dodd were chosen to carry Australia's flag at the closing ceremony. Chef de Mission Kenny Wallace said the athletes' development in Dakar had encouraged him as he looked towards Brisbane 2032.
The two-week competition brought together nearly 2,700 athletes, aged 14 to 17, for 153 medal events across 25 sports. China led the gold medal count with 18, ahead of Japan on 11 and Russia on eight.
