10 of the youngest and 10 of the oldest athletes competing at the Paris Olympics
Amory Rose
- The athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics have a wide range of ages.
- Most of the youngest athletes are skateboarders, but there's also a 50-year-old skating for the UK.
The 2024 Summer Olympics are underway in Paris. After years of preparation, the global event is set to cost the city over $8.2 billion.
But the City of Lights wasn't the only one rearing for the Games to start.
Over 10,000 athletes have spent the last three years training, competing, and qualifying for this year's events, and they represent a diverse pool of competitors from around the world.
Here are 10 of the youngest and 10 of the oldest Olympians competing this year.
This year's youngest athlete is 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao.
Haohao is skateboarding for China just one month shy of her 12th birthday, making her the youngest athlete at these Games.
Skateboarding was only added as a sport at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, but she's been doing the sport since she was 7.
Haohao is set to compete in the women's park event on August 6.
Skateboarder and Thailand flag bearer Vareeraya Sukasem is 12 years old.
Sukasem also made her Olympic debut. The 12-year-old Thai skateboarder was the female flag bearer for Thailand at this year's opening ceremonies.
Sukasem competed in the women's street event on Sunday, where she finished in 17th and did not advance to the final.
Skateboarder Heili Sirviö is the youngest athlete to ever represent Finland.
Sirviö is Finland's youngest Olympian at 13.
She has been competing internationally for the past two years and has an active social-media presence, documenting her journey to the Games on YouTube and Instagram.
Sirviö is set to skate in the women's park event on August 6.
Fay DeFazio Ebert, a 14-year-old skateboarder, is the youngest player on the Canadian team.
Canadian skateboarder Ebert is making her Olympic debut at 14 years old.
She told Toronto Life she was initially interested in track and cross country until she started skateboarding six years ago.
Ebert won a gold medal in the 2023 Pan American Games, and the athlete qualified for the women's park event.
Sky Brown, another young skateboarder, is a 16-year-old competing for Great Britain.
Brown previously made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, where she made history as Great Britain's youngest Olympian.
The 16-year-old took home the bronze medal for the women's park event and, more recently, won second place at the Olympic qualifying event in June to secure her spot for the Paris Games.
She's looking to defend her podium title on August 6.
Gymnast Hezly Rivera competed for Team USA at 16.
Rivera, a member of the US gymnastics team, is 16, making her the youngest woman representing the county this year.
Her skills helped the US gymnasts progress to the team finals over the weekend.
Even though she didn't qualify for any individual events and wasn't chosen to compete at Tuesday's team finals, she shares the team's gold-medal win.
Track-and-field athlete Quincy Wilson is another 16-year-old on the US team.
16-year-old Wilson is the youngest man on the US Olympic team and the youngest-ever male to qualify for the US track-and-field team.
His running speeds have already made headlines, catapulting him to a top-10 spot for men in his sport.
Wilson didn't qualify for any individual events, but he's in the 4x400m relay pool. The track event is scheduled for Friday.
Lola Tambling is skateboarding for Great Britain at 16 years old.
Tambling is making her Olympic debut on Great Britain's skateboarding team.
The 16-year-old previously won the 2022 British National Championships in skateboarding and placed sixth at the 2023 World Championships.
Tambling is part of the pack competing in the women's park event next week.
At 17 years old, Dominika Banevič is competing in breaking for Lithuania.
Banevič qualified for the new breaking event, representing Lithuania. Breaking is the latest Olympic sport, and the break-dancing events start on August 9.
The 17-year-old previously won the gold medal at the World Breaking Championship in 2023.
Alex Shackell is a 17-year-old competing on the US swim team.
At 17 years old, swimmer Shackell is the third-youngest competitor on Team USA.
She qualified for the women's 200-meter butterfly race after finishing second at the team trials. The event takes place on Wednesday.
Shackell's 19-year-old brother, Aaron, will also swim in Paris, competing in the men's 400-meter freestyle. The pair is one of several Olympic sibling duos at this year's Games.
On the other side, 65-year-old equestrian Juan Antonio Jiménez is representing Spain.
Jiménez, who is 65 years old, is competing as an equestrian for Spain. Although 69-year-old Aussie equestrian Mary Hanna is in Paris, she's an AP athlete (non-competing reserve team member), making Jiménez the oldest qualifying Olympian at these Games.
He has competed in the equestrian dressage events twice, in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.
Although he has no individual medals, he helped Spain win silver in the team dressage event in Athens.
Swedish equestrian Rolf-Göran Bengtsson is competing at 62 years old.
62-year-old Bengtsson of Sweden is also competing in equestrian events.
The rider has participated in five Olympic games, starting with his debut in Atlanta in 1996, and has won two silver medals.
He's set to ride in the jumping team event on Thursday.
After over a decade, Pius Schwizer is returning to compete for Switzerland at 61.
Equestrian Schwizer is competing for Switzerland at 61.
He rode at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games and is returning to Paris for his first Olympics in over a decade.
The rider, who helped Switzerland win the bronze medal for team jumping at the 2008 Beijing Games, is set to compete in Thursday's jumping events.
Mario Deslauriers is riding for Canada four decades after his Olympic debut.
Canadian equestrian Deslauriers is returning for his fourth Olympic games at 59.
He made his Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 1984 Games four decades ago. That same year, he became the youngest person to win the FEI World Final Cup, a high honor in the equestrian world.
The rider will join his Canadian teammates in Thursday's jumping events.
The oldest Olympian competing on Team USA is 59-year-old equestrian Steffen Peters.
Peters returned to the Olympics at 59. The US equestrian has previously participated in five Summer Games, starting with Atlanta in 1996. That year, the rider helped the US win a bronze medal in team dressage.
Peters more recently took home the silver for team dressage at the Tokyo Games, where the equestrian and his horse, Suppenkasper, gained internet acclaim for an EDM routine.
Although Team USA was eliminated from the dressage competition on Tuesday, Peters will still compete in individual events this week.
Zhiying Zeng made her Olympic debut at 58, playing table tennis for Chile.
Zeng, who goes by Tania, started her table-tennis career in her home country of China. But after missing her shot at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she retired at 20 and moved to Chile to coach kids in the sport.
Now, at 58, Zeng made her Olympic debut on the Chilean table-tennis team on Saturday.
She competed in the preliminary round of the women's singles event, where she lost to Lebanese player Mariana Sahakian.
Carl Hester is competing in equestrian events for Great Britain at 57.
Hester was once the youngest member of the UK equestrian team at the 1992 Barcelona Games, but now, at 57, he's the country's oldest rider in Paris.
This is also his seventh Olympic Games, making him the longest-active member of Great Britain's team.
Hester won gold in team dressage at the 2012 London Games, silver at the 2016 Rio Games, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Great Britain finished second at Tuesday's preliminary event, and Hester finished third in the individual event. Final competitions will follow.
Nino Salukvadze made Olympic history by returning for her 10th Games.
Paris 2024 is shooter Salukvadze's 10th Olympics, making her the first woman to participate in 10 Games.
When the 55-year-old representing Georgia debuted at the Seoul Games in 1988, she won gold in the 25-meter pistol event and silver in the 10-meter air pistol event.
The 10-time Olympian ranked 38 at the 10-meter air pistol event on Saturday, but she's set to compete in the 25-meter pistol event on Friday.
At 50, Andy Macdonald is the oldest skateboarder at the Games.
Macdonald is competing for Great Britain at 50, making him the oldest Olympic skateboarder in the sport's short history at the Games.
The American-born athlete, whose father is from England, qualified for the Great Britain team for the Paris Games.
This is his first Olympic games, and the skater's park event is scheduled for August 7.
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