Latest news with #OlympicLegacy
Zawya
6 days ago
- Sport
- Zawya
Youth Charter Calls for Africa's Youth to Lead a Legacy of Hope from the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games
On UN International Youth Day 2025, the Youth Charter ( is urging Africa's governments, sports bodies, communities, and young leaders to unite behind a Global Call to Action that will ensure the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games deliver a lasting legacy of hope and opportunity for the continent's young people. The Dakar Games will be the first-ever Olympic event staged on African soil – a milestone moment for the International Olympic Committee and a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Africa's youth. 'Dakar 2026 must be more than a sporting spectacle – it must be the spark for a continental movement that engages, equips, and empowers our young people,' said Professor Geoff Thompson MBE FRSA DL, Founder and Chair of the Youth Charter. 'Africa's youth are the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world. We must channel their talent and energy into building peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable communities.' A Legacy Opportunity for All – #LegacyOpportunity4All Since 1993, the Youth Charter has worked across Africa – from post-apartheid township programmes in South Africa to social coach training in Namibia and youth leadership development in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. This experience has shown that sport, when linked to education, health, employment, and environmental action, can transform lives. For Dakar 2026, the Youth Charter is proposing a Pan-African Youth Legacy Programme that will: Train thousands of 'Social Coaches' across all 54 African nations, using the Games as a catalyst to expand youth mentoring and leadership. Establish Community Campuses in urban and rural areas to provide Somewhere to Go, Something to Do, and Someone to Show Them – safe spaces for sport, learning, culture, and enterprise. Align all projects with the UN SDGs, ensuring measurable impact in health, education, gender equality, peace, climate action, and partnerships. From Dakar to Every African Community The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games can inspire and activate programmes far beyond Senegal: In South Africa, the Youth Charter's Mandela-inspired initiatives show how sport can unite divided communities and drive social change. In Nigeria and Ghana, sport is already creating employment opportunities for young people – from coaching to digital media and event management. In Kenya and Uganda, community sport programmes are improving health outcomes and increasing school retention, especially for girls. Across the Sahel, sport-led interventions are being used to promote peace, resilience, and climate awareness in areas facing instability. A Call to Africa's Leaders The Youth Charter is calling on: African Union&Member States: Integrate Sport for Development and Peace into national development plans and the AU's Agenda 2063. African private sector&philanthropy: Invest in community sport infrastructure and youth programmes as part of corporate social responsibility and shared value strategies. African youth leaders: Take the lead in designing and delivering projects that respond to local needs, using Dakar 2026 as a launch platform. IOC&International Partners: Commit to long-term investment in Africa's youth, ensuring the Dakar Games legacy is built and sustained well beyond 2026. From Dakar to 2030 With only five years left to achieve the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Dakar 2026 offers Africa a unique moment to demonstrate authentic, evidence-based impact in youth development. The Youth Charter's #LegacyOpportunity4All vision aligns with the IOC's Olympism365 strategy and the UN's Youth2030 plan – ensuring sport is a driver of inclusive and sustainable growth. 'From Dakar's stadiums to Africa's streets and villages, we can create a generation of young people who see sport not just as a game, but as a pathway to education, peace, climate action, and opportunity,' Thompson concluded. Download the Youth Charter UN International Youth Day Essay&Dakar 2026 Legacy Briefing: Youth Charter – From Rhetoric to Reality: Global Call to Action for Sport for Development and Peace Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Youth Charter. Youth Charter @ Social Media: LinkedIn: @ YouthCharter Facebook: @ YouthCharter Instagram: @ youthchartersdp YouTube: @ YouthCharter X: @ YOUTHCHARTER Youth Charter #Hashtags: #International Olympic Committee #Olympism #Fight4theStreets #YoungLivesLost #Call2Action #LegacyOpportunity4All #SportDevelopmentPeace #Empowerthenextgeneration #CommonwealthSecretariat #UNSustainableDevelopmentGoals About Youth Charter: Founded in 1993 in Manchester, UK, the Youth Charter is a UN-accredited NGO with three decades of experience delivering Sport for Development and Peace initiatives in the UK and internationally. Its mission is to Engage, Equip, and Empower young people through sport, art, culture, and digital activity, creating sustainable legacy opportunities for all. The Youth Charter is a UK registered charity and UN accredited non-governmental organisation. Launched in 1993 as part of the Manchester 2000 Olympic Bid and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Youth Charter has Campaigned and Promoted the role and value of sport, art, culture and digital technology in the lives of disaffected young people from disadvantaged communities nationally and internationally. The Youth Charter has a proven track record in the creation and delivery of social and human development programmes with the overall aim of providing young people with an opportunity to develop in life. Specifically, The Youth Charter Tackles educational non-attainment, health inequality, anti-social behaviour and the negative effects of crime, drugs, gang related activity and racism by applying the ethics of sporting and artistic excellence. These can then be translated to provide social and economic benefits of citizenship, rights responsibilities, with improved education, health, social order, environment and college, university, employment and enterprise.
The 42
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Three of Ireland's Paris medallists donate €60k in Olympic grants to clubs and former school
THREE OF IRELAND'S medallists from Paris 2024 have donated their Olympic legacy grants from Sport Northern Ireland to the institutions with whom they started their respective Olympic journeys. Funded by Stormont's Department for Communities, the Olympic Medallist Fund of £100,000 (€119,000) was shared between six athletes from the north, three of whom represented Ireland at last summer's Paris Olympics while the other three competed for Team GB. Double Olympic medallist Daniel Wiffen was granted £25,000 (€29,700) in legacy funding, with his 800m freestyle gold medal earning him £20,000 and his 1500m freestyle bronze worth an additional £5,000. Advertisement Wiffen donated his entire cheque to his former school, St Patrick's Grammar School in Armagh, to offset the cost of a recent gym expansion on the school's Cathedral Road premises. 'Proud to donate my full £25,000 Olympic Legacy fund to @stpatsarmagh – the school that believed in me from the start,' Wiffen wrote on social media. 'The new gym will support the next generation of Armagh athletes. Legacy isn't just about medals – it's about giving back.' Proud to donate my full £25,000 Olympic Legacy fund to @stpatsarmagh – the school that believed in me from the start. The new gym will support the next generation of Armagh athletes. Legacy isn't just about medals – it's about giving back. 🏫💪 #LegacyOfParis #Armagh #Paris2024 — Daniel Wiffen (@WiffenDaniel) June 9, 2025 Gold medal-winning gymnast Rhys McClenaghan also donated his full cheque, worth £20,000, to the aptly named Origin Gymnastics club in his hometown of Newtownards, Co. Down. 'I feel like this grant gave me the responsibility to leave a legacy after my Olympic win,' McClenaghan said. 'I couldn't think of a better way to leave a legacy than to donate the money to the fastest-growing gymnastics club in the country, Origin Gymnastics. 'This will hopefully allow young gymnasts to follow in my foot steps and give them opportunities and equipment that I didn't have growing up in this sport. Origin offers a sense of community in my hometown of Newtownards and gives everybody in the local area a true love for the sport of gymnastics.' Philip Doyle, meanwhile, who took rowing bronze for Ireland in the double sculls alongside Clonmel man Daire Lynch, donated his £5,000 to Belfast Boat Club. Of the Team GB athletes from Northern Ireland, rowers Hannah Scott (gold) and Rebecca Shorten (silver) donated to Bann Rowing Club and Methodist College Belfast Rowing Club respectively, while swimmer Jack McMillan (gold) chose Bangor Swimming Club.
Irish Daily Mirror
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Olympic heroes donate legacy grants to their schools in classy gesture
Three of Ireland's Olympic heroes have donated their legacy grants to the schools and clubs that set them on the path to sporting glory. Sport Northern Ireland has given £100,000 (€119,000) to be shared between six athletes from the north, three of whom, Daniel Wiffen, Rhys McClenaghan and Phillip Doyle, represented Ireland at last summer's Paris Olympics. Wiffen donated his legacy grant of £25,000 (€29,700) for winning gold in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1500m freestyle to his former school, St Patrick's Grammar School in Armagh, and the building of a new gym. The swimmer said: 'Proud to donate my full £25,000 Olympic Legacy fund to @stpatsarmagh – the school that believed in me from the start,' Wiffen wrote on social media. 'The new gym will support the next generation of Armagh athletes. Legacy isn't just about medals – it's about giving back.' McClenaghan, who won gold on the pommel horse in Paris, donated his full cheque, worth £20,000 (€23,744) to Origin Gymnastics club in his hometown of Newtownards, Co. Down. 'I feel like this grant gave me the responsibility to leave a legacy after my Olympic win,' McClenaghan said. 'I couldn't think of a better way to leave a legacy than to donate the money to the fastest-growing gymnastics club in the country, Origin Gymnastics. 'This will hopefully allow young gymnasts to follow in my foot steps and give them opportunities and equipment that I didn't have growing up in this sport. Origin offers a sense of community in my hometown of Newtownards and gives everybody in the local area a true love for the sport of gymnastics.' Philip Doyle, who won a bronze for Ireland in the double sculls alongside Clonmel's Daire Lynch, donated his £5,000 to Belfast Boat Club. Speaking to RTE, the principal of St Patrick's Grammar School in Armagh, where Wiffen to school, told that the swimming hero was "very, very supportive of the school" Dominic Clarke said: "Daniel came in with his Commonwealth silver medal when he won it, his first probably major international medal," he said. "And then with his Olympic medals, he came into the school and spent hours and hours with the school community so everybody knows them." Clarke added that the school has a particularly rich history of sporting talent, which was on full show in the space of a few days last summer. "That was a glorious weekend that during which Armagh won the All Ireland and we had seven past pupils on that squad, so that was a big high and that was the Sunday and then on the Monday, Daniel went out and won the 800 metres gold medal. "Then another past pupil, Connor McKenna, who had already won an All Ireland with Tyrone a number of years ago, won the Australian AFL Championship with Brisbane. "It was a very, very, very good couple of months for the school".
Belfast Telegraph
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
NI sporting hero Daniel Wiffen ‘really proud' to donate £25k Olympic fund to former Armagh school
The swimmer (23) made history last July after becoming the first Northern Ireland athlete to win an individual gold medal since 1972. He won gold in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1,500m freestyle for Team Ireland in the French capital. Sharing photos as he returned to old school St Patrick's Grammar in Armagh, the athlete was pictured with current pupils at the school and the Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin. In a post on social media, Wiffen said: 'From Armagh to Paris and back again. 'Really proud to donate my full £25,000 Olympic Legacy fund to St Patrick's Grammar School Armagh – the school that believed in me from the very beginning. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. "Their support meant everything on my journey to becoming an Olympic Champion 'When I heard about the Legacy of Paris programme, I knew straight away where the funding should go. The school had plans for a new gym to support local athletes, but funding was a challenge. This donation helped bring that vision to life. News Catchup - Monday 9th June 2025 'It was a special moment to return with my brothers Nathan Wiffen and Ben Wiffen to open the new facility – one that will inspire future swimmers, GAA stars, hurlers, hoopers and more 'Massive thanks to Mr Clarke, Archbishop Eamon Martin and the whole school community for the warm welcome and continued belief. 'Legacy isn't just about medals — it's about giving others the chance to dream too.'
