Managers of the African Athletics Development Center (AADC) in Dakar have taken stock of more than a year of existence and identified prospects.
The African Athletics Development Center (AADC) of Dakar, set up by CAA, following the decentralization policy by World Athletics (ex-iaaf), opened its doors since December 2018 to eleven residents from Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Gambia, Madagascar, Niger and Senegal. The structure was born from the merger of the former Regional Development Center (RDC) and the High Performance Training Center (HPTC) which were based in Dakar. Under the management of the Senegalese Olympic medalist, El Hadji Amadou Dia Bâ, the Center is making its mark. It has already managed to qualify two athletes for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Gambian Gina Bass (100m and 200m) and Nigerian Aminatou Seynou Moumouni (400m, 200m and 100m).
The two athletes have succeeded the Olympic minima last season. Gina Bass clocked 11’’33 in the 100m and 22’’58 in the 200m during the All Africa Games in Rabat. Aminatou Seynou Moumouni clocked 11'84 in 100m, 22'58 in 200m and 48'19 in 400m. In the last All Africa games in Rabat, the harvest of the AADC Dakar amounted to four medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze). Performances found satisfactory by the center’s Director, Dia Bâ during the reception ceremony of a brand new 15-seat bus for the residents. "We hope to have more athletes at the next Olympic Games. We are on the right way. We have left point A and we hope to raise the level of the center in the coming years,” he said.
The Technical Director, Alain Smail welcomed the participation of a few athletes in the indoor competition, like Gambia’s Gina Bass, who won her six meetings and finished 4th in the indoor world. For this season, the Algiers African Championships and the Olympics are the targets for the French technician.
The center has recruited a General manager who takes care of athletes in terms of outdoor training, equipment and sponsorship.