There's a 54-year age gap between the oldest and youngest athlete at this year's Olympics

• It's a case of in with the old and in with the new at the Olympics Games.
• This is because a 66-year-old, and a 12-year-old, are competing in separate events in Tokyo.
• One 13-year-old has already won gold.

There's a 54-year age gap between the oldest and youngest athlete at this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Following Friday's opening ceremony and Parade of Nations, a number of the world's top sportspeople have competed in a variety of events including traditional sports like swimming, and new ones like skateboarding.

Some of the headlines have been generated by the extraordinary participants at the games like a Syrian 12-year-old called Hend Zaza, who made history as the youngest Olympian since 1968.

Zaza had to overcome numerous obstacles in her homeland as she trained through power cuts caused by civil war to qualify aged 11 for this summer's Olympics.

Zaza lost in the first round Saturday but, according to the BBC, said: "My message to everyone who wishes to have the same situation: Fight for your dreams."

If Zaza represents part of the youth at this year's Games, then Mary Hanna represents the experience because, at 66, the Australian is the oldest Olympian this summer.

A grandmother, Hanna competes in her seventh Games and is the second-oldest woman to ever participate in the Olympics.

Hanna's specialty sport is the equestrian discipline of dressage. She's been to every Olympics since 1996, and entered the Olympic Dressage arena Sunday to take part in the team dressage tournament in 2021.

One young queen has already been crowned

Momiji Nishiya of Team Japan became one of the youngest gold medal-winners of all time when she won the Olympic title in the women's skateboarding event Monday.

Skateboarding is a debuting sport at this summer's Games and it is one in which young people are thriving, as 13-year-old Brazilian Rayssa Leal, and 16-year-old Funa Nakayama of Japan, came second and third, respectively.

According to Japan Times, Nishiya is the youngest gold medalist from that country.

Other young athletes at the Olympics include American sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who is 17, American swimmer Katie Grimes, who is 15, and Chinese diver Quan Hongchan, who is 14.