Alibaba Group is partnering with the IOC and the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee to deliver cloud and AI-powered services

AlibabaOpeningCeremony

The Summer Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 (Dakar 2026) is partnering with Alibaba Group to use its cloud and AI technology, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee.

The Dakar 2026 Organising Committee will deploy a private cloud (built on Alibaba Cloud’s Apsara Stack) for the Games’ digital operations. This will serve as the event’s digital backbone to host applications and services such as ticketing and e-visa processing.

The ticketing system, built by Alibaba Cloud, will handle online ticket sales and on-site access control for tickets across all seven venues and the Festival Site.

Once the Games are finished, the private cloud infrastructure will be handed over to Senegal to serve as a national cloud platform, supporting the country’s long-term digital transformation.

At the Opening Ceremony of Dakar 2026, the Organizing Committee unveiled an AI-powered celebration of drum performance (pictured above), which was created using Alibaba’s WAN video generation model. The one-minute video brought together 100 participants from the Dakar 2026 Learning Academy virtually performing the drum together.

During the Games, at the Festival Site, visitors can step into a kiosk hosted by Alibaba to generate a short video of themselves playing the Senegalese Sabar Drum. Additionally, an AI agent powered by Alibaba’s cloud-based AI technology answers questions about Dakar 2026 and the history of the Youth Olympic Games.

As part of the partnership, the Alibaba Cloud Tech Academy is providing free online cloud computing training for Senegalese youth under 35, which was already attracted more than 10,000 registrations.

The Summer Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 is taking place in Senegal from 31 October to 13 November 2026 across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly. The event brings together 2,700 athletes aged 17 or under to compete across 35 sports. 

Kirsty Coventry, president of the International Olympic Committee, said: “Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games are the first Olympic event taking place on African soil. I’m delighted that our Worldwide Olympic Partner, Alibaba, is helping bring this historic moment to life. Through its cloud and AI technology, Alibaba is helping the Games run more smoothly and bringing fans around the world closer to the action.”

Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, President of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (YOGOC), added: “We want Dakar 2026 to feel ambitious, welcoming and unmistakably Senegalese. The right technology will help us run the Games smoothly and give young athletes, visitors and audiences a connected experience from the moment they arrive. It will also leave us with stronger digital capabilities to support future events and public services.”

Toby Xu, chief financial officer, Alibaba Group, said: “Sport is now a truly digital experience, and audiences expect more ways to follow and engage with the action. Cloud and AI capabilities are helping the industry respond by making services easier to scale and adapt. As a Worldwide Olympic Partner for nearly a decade, Alibaba has consistently helped drive the Olympic Movement forward-moving from digitalisation to intelligence through technological innovation. For Dakar 2026, we look forward to seeing how these technologies continue to shape the future of the Olympic Movement and beyond.”