Young guns have fun going for gold
ALL the teens and tweens taking home medals in Tokyo have got everyone talking about what the minimum age is for people to compete at the Olympics. And the answer is: there isn’t really a minimum age.
The International Olympics Committee does not set any age limits – young or old – relating to participation in the Games.
But some individual sports do. Gymnastics has changed its rules several times, after concern about the toll being taken on very young bodies. These days females have to be 16 years old to compete, while males have to be 18.
Boxing, too, requires its competitors to be at least 18 – and stops them competing after the age of 40.
In diving, the minimum age to compete is 14 years.
Other events have no lower limits, so it’s simply a matter of when a child is able to qualify against an adult.
Aussie swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan, 17, took home gold for her heats swim in the 4x100 relay.
Australian Keegan Palmer, 18, claimed gold in the men’s park skateboarding.
Skateboarding is where all the cool kids hang out. And the women’s street event saw two 13-year-olds and a 16-year-old take the podium.
Momiji Nishiya, 13, took gold for Japan, while ‘Little Fairy’’ Rayssa Leal, 13, of Brazil, took silver.
Funa Nakayama, the veteran at 16, took bronze for Japan.
In the street event, Sky Brown, who has just turned 13, became Great Britain’s youngest summer Olympian ever, taking home a bronze.
The youngest competitor in Tokyo was Syrian table tennis prodigy Hend Zaza, aged 12 years and 204 days. She exited in the first round after losing to a player three times her age.
Chinese athlete Quan Hongchan, 14, took gold in the 10m platform after performing three dives that earned perfect 10 scores.
China’s Guan Chenchen, 16, and Tang Xijing, 18, took gold and silver on the balance beam in gymnastics.
Great job, boys and girls. Now go and clean your rooms.