Dakar – The first Olympic sporting event to ever be held in Africa has been a long time in the making but the Dakar Youth Olympics are ready to deliver despite a four-year postponement, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said on Thursday.

Senegal is the first African country to host an Olympic sporting event, with the Youth Games opening on Saturday with the participation of almost 2,700 athletes, aged 14 to 17, from 204 national Olympic committees.

The Games, which will run until Nov. 13, were initially set for 2022 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s here,“ Coventry told a news conference in Dakar after inspecting the venues and the athletes’ village ahead of Saturday’s opening ceremony. “We are so happy. This has been a long time in the making.…