Wordly expands ANOC deal for Dakar 2026 athlete interviews

By Elena Vasquez

At the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, more than 1,000 athlete interviews will pass through Wordly's AI translation and captioning system in more than 60 languages, the company said.

Wordly announced the expansion on November 14, 2026, under an agreement with the Association of National Olympic Committees, or ANOC.

For ANOC, the new focus is specific. Athlete media content, rather than live meeting support, becomes the centre of the expanded work.

ANOC represents 206 National Olympic Committees worldwide, giving the project a broad base for testing multilingual production.

What does the expanded agreement cover?

Under the agreement, Wordly's technology will be integrated into ANOC.tv Studio, the organisation's content production platform.

Editors working with interviews recorded in athletes' native languages will be able to use translated captions and text during post-production.

The system is intended to help National Olympic Committees prepare and distribute interview material more quickly.

ANOC says the interviews will introduce audiences to younger athletes and track their progress toward future Olympic competitions.

The core figures and distribution points are straightforward:

• Scale: More than 1,000 athlete interviews are expected to pass through the system.
• Language coverage: The interviews will be translated into more than 60 languages.
• Production: Wordly's technology will be integrated into ANOC.tv Studio.
• Publication: The translated videos are due to appear through ANOC.tv's social media channels.

The project focuses on athlete media content, not live meeting support, according to ANOC and Wordly.

That distinction gives the partnership a defined output: recorded interviews prepared for domestic and international distribution.

Why does multilingual production need a scalable workflow?

Multilingual video production at international competitions can be difficult to manage, Wordly said.

Editors often need to process interviews in languages they do not speak.

Building teams for every language can be costly and impractical, according to the agreement.

The project arrives as sports bodies place greater emphasis on reaching audiences across multiple regions and languages, ANOC said.

Olympic organisations, athletes, coaches, media outlets and supporters operate across different linguistic markets, making translation and subtitling a growing operational issue for international federations and governing bodies.

ANOC frames the Dakar project as part of a wider effort to make athlete stories available at home and abroad.

The goal is to reduce dependence on fully manual translation while widening distribution for member committees.

This puts AI inside a real production constraint, rather than turning it into a stand-alone language demonstration.

More than 1,000 interviews in more than 60 languages will test whether that workflow can carry editorial content at event scale.

That scale gives the 206 committees represented by ANOC a shared test of the production system.

Any gains in speed or consistency would affect how quickly committee-produced athlete material reaches local and global audiences.

How does this extend Wordly's existing ANOC relationship?

Wordly has already supplied real-time AI translation and captions for ANOC planning meetings, events, assemblies and other activities.

One of those assignments was the ANOC General Assembly in Hong Kong, the agreement said.

The Dakar work extends the vendor's role into post-production, where editors combine translated captions and text with recorded footage.

That is a different operating environment from live meeting support, even though both use the same core multilingual tools.

Wordly's broader business centres on live AI multilingual communication.

Its offering includes translation, captions, transcripts and summaries for meetings and events.

Wordly says its platform has been used by more than 6 million people in more than 120 countries.

The company also says it has processed more than 1 billion minutes of live multilingual translation.

Those figures describe a service already operating at large meeting and event scale, while Dakar tests its use in recorded sports media.

ANOC's decision to bring that system into ANOC.tv Studio connects the existing meeting relationship with a broader publishing operation.

Translated videos, rather than live captions alone, will become the public output of the next phase.

What do the organizations say translation achieves?

Lakshman Rathnam, Founder & CEO of Wordly, said:

“At the heart of international sports is the connection between athletes and the people cheering them on at home,”

“Sharing their experiences in their own languages helps athletes express themselves naturally and brings fans, families and friends closer to their journeys.”

“The Olympics also show what is possible when people from around the world come together toward a common goal.”

“As the future of global work brings people across languages and cultures together, breaking down communication barriers is essential.”

Rathnam framed the project around athletes speaking naturally and supporters following their journeys across borders.

His argument also reaches beyond sports. As global work brings people across languages and cultures together, communication barriers need to fall.

Gunilla Lindberg, Secretary General of ANOC, said:

“ANOC is committed to helping National Olympic Committees share the stories of their athletes and connect with fans in their home countries and around the world,”

“By integrating Wordly's AI translation into our content production workflow, we can help NOCs reach wider audiences, bring more visibility to our athletes and build connections with fans as we look ahead to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”

Lindberg tied the workflow to ANOC's goal of helping member committees reach fans in their home countries and around the world.

She also placed the project in the run-up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

The quote connects the Dakar test with ANOC's longer-term interest in the next Games.

What does Dakar test before Los Angeles 2028?

Dakar will give ANOC and Wordly a test case for using AI tools at scale in sports media workflows, both parties said.

The test uses interviews recorded in athletes' native languages, then prepares translated captions and text for editorial teams.

It also carries a wider purpose: introducing audiences to younger athletes and tracking their progress toward future Olympic competitions.

The social distribution stage matters because the final videos are due to appear through ANOC.tv's channels, not only inside committee edit suites.

The immediate test is operational. Editors must handle more than 1,000 interviews, across more than 60 languages, through one integrated production platform.

That load will show whether the approach delivers the speed and reach ANOC and Wordly expect.

If Dakar holds at that scale, the partnership could give ANOC's 206 committees a tested model before Los Angeles 2028.

The next milestone is simple: more than 1,000 interviews, more than 60 languages and one production workflow, tested at Dakar before ANOC looks toward Los Angeles 2028.