Nairobi-based refugee judoka, 15, targets gold at Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics
Arno Yafunga Botay fled DR Congo as a child and grew up in Kenya. He is fighting in the under-55kg judo category for the Refugee Olympic Team, which is making its Youth Olympics debut in Dakar.
Arno Yafunga Botay, 15, is competing in the under-55kg judo category for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. He earned his place through trials in East Africa. "I didn't expect to be selected," he told BBC Sport Africa. This is the first time a refugee team has competed at a Youth Games. His family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017, when he was six. Threats to his father's life ended in an attack on their home. His seven-month-old sibling was killed. The family lived in Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya before moving to Nairobi. In Nairobi, Arno used to watch his father, Arnold, practise judo before Arnold went out to work as a labourer. Arno asked his father to teach him and started learning the sport at seven. Arnold still coaches him. His brother Christian, now 17, sometimes spars with him. Arno has trained at a dojo in the Kenyan capital since 2020. Life in Kenya has been hard. Arno told the BBC he had no judogi and no money for transport to local competitions. He said the family often cannot pay school…
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