We won’t speak for anyone else, but sometimes watching the Olympics leaves us dumbfounded at just how talented people can be. After all, some days we can barely leave our couches while some athletes are setting unprecedented world records.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, for example, a series of teenage athletes will have us taking a double-take. “Wait, they’re only 16?” we’ll say, “How is that possible?”
Diving superstar Hongchan Quan, for example, is just 17 years old but is going to Paris to defend his title on behalf of China after winning gold in Tokyo 2020. Just in Team USA, some under-18 athletes like gymnast Hezly Rivera, track star Quincy Wilson and swimmers Alex Shackell and Thomas Heilman will surely impress us too. After all, it’s already impressive that they’re at the Olympics in the first place, right?
To check out all the teenage athletes we should be keeping an eye out for in Paris 2024, scroll below!
Haohao Zheng
11-year-old Haohao Zheng will be the youngest athlete competing in Paris this year. She’s also China’s youngest athlete ever to compete in any Olympic Games.
“Competition to me is just to get together with my good friends,” Zheng told Reuters. “It’s like we are playing a fun game – everyone has to show the best they’ve got.”
Vareeraya Sukasem
Skateboarder Vareeraya Sukasem is getting ready to represent her home country of Thailand at just 12 years old.
Heili Sirvio
Heili Sirvio will become Finland’s youngest Olympic athlete ever as she debuts in Paris at just 13 years old.
Fay De Fazio Ebert
14-year-old Fay De Fazio Ebert will make Team Canada proud this summer as she represents her country in skateboarding.
Sky Brown
In Tokyo 2020, Sky Brown of Team Great Britain won Bronze for skateboarding. This year, at just 15 years old, she’s ready to win some more.
Hezly Rivera
Hezly Rivera will be competing for Team USA this year in the gymnastics team. She’s 16 years old.
Quincy Wilson
Alongside Rivera, 16-year-old track star Quincy Wilson will also be representing Team USA this summer. Per USA Today, Wilson is Team USA’s youngest American male track and field athlete in history.
Rayssa Leal
Brazilian teenager Rayssa Leal is only 16, but she’s already an accomplished Olympian. After winning silver in Tokyo in 2021, Leal is set to skate her way to the top again this year.
“I think Brazil is a country that has a lot of talent, both in skateboarding and in sports in general. And we work hard, precisely because we don’t have as many opportunities as other countries have,” she told Olympics.com.
“That effort and dedication, not to mention the merit, far from me, but we’ve had a lot of that since I was a little kid,” she continued. “We always have the dream in us. If it depends on us, we will only stop even when we fulfill that dream. So I think that’s the big key.
“It’s drive, really. It’s the drive, the strength of the Brazilian who doesn’t have much,” she added.
Lola Tambling
Team GB Lola Tambling will also be one of the teenagers competing in the skateboarding competition in Paris. She’s 16 years old.
Dominika Banevič (B-Girl Nicka)
This year, break dancing will be officially a sport at the Olympics. Debuting the sport in style will be 17-year-old Dominika Banevič (nickname B-Girl Nicka).
Minna Stess
Teens will really be taking over the skateboarding competition this year. 17-year-old Minna Stess will be skating on behalf of Team USA.
Alex Shackell
Alex Shackell, 17, will be taking the plunge this summer and competing on behalf of Team USA in swimming. Shackell, who is the daughter of swimming Olympian Nick Shackell, will be joined by her brother, Aaron, who will also be competing in swimming.
“Anything for USA,” Shackell told IndyStar. “I’m going to do my best to see what I can do.”
Phoebe Gill
17-year-old Phoebe Gill will be representing Team GB in Track & Field this year.
Summer McIntosh
After not landing on the podium in the 2020 Tokyo Games, Summer McIntosh is competing in her second Olympic Games this year on behalf of Team Canada.
Thomas Heilman
Thomas Heilman, 17, will also be representing Team USA on the pool this year.
“It’s been a lot of fun, but obviously it takes a lot of hard work to get here,” Heilman told 29 News. “There’s obviously sacrifices but this achievement of making the Olympics, it really didn’t feel like sacrifices most of the time. I was still able to hang out with friends on the weekend.”
Eva Okaro
Eva Okaro is another teenage Olympic swimmer this year. The 17-year-old will be representing team GB.
Baptiste Addis
Baptiste Addis is just 17 years old but he’ll be representing France in recurve archery this year.
Hongchan Quan
Back in the 2020 Tokyo Games, Hongchan Quan of China won the coveted gold medal for diving. This year, at the age of 17, she’s getting ready to defend her title.
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