From Sky Brown to Harimoto Miwa and Quan Hongchan: Meet 10 of the top teens to watch at Paris 2024
There’s no shortage of teenagers competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Nearly every event, from athletics and swimming, to skateboarding and table tennis will offer up a welcome dose of teen spirit.
These young athletes have the dedication and commitment to not just qualify for the Games, but to land on the podium, and for many, to become Olympic champions.
Meet 10 of the energetic athletes injecting youthfulness into the Olympic Games.
Sky Brown determined to bring skateboarding gold home to Great Britain
Great Britain’s Sky Brown, 16, is growing up right before our eyes. The skateboarding prodigy started skating at age four and competing at age eight. At only 13 years old, she won bronze at skateboarding’s inaugural women’s park event at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).
Brown recently overcame a medial knee cruciate ligament tear, which kept her out of the first Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Shanghai. Still, she came out swinging at the final OQS in Budapest to earn second place. She enters these Olympic Games as a favourite to medal in women’s park.
The teen will be competing alongside her best friend and reigning Olympic champion, Yosozumi Sakura, who almost missed her Paris berth, but thanks to Brown’s strategic skateboarding in Budapest, the duo will be able to experience the Games together.
When the contest starts, though, Brown is ready to get down to business. She told Sky Sports her plans for Paris: "I want that gold medal, it's a big goal but I think I can do it."
Brown just celebrated her sweet sixteen at a skatepark, where else, with a crew of her best skateboard friends.
Swimmer Summer McIntosh aiming for multiple medals at Paris 2024
Canada's Summer McIntosh,17, started swimming competitively in 2014 at age eight. Six years later, she made her Olympic debut at 14 at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021) as the youngest athlete on Team Canada. She finished fourth individually in the 400m freestyle.
McIntosh has since become one of Canada’s most successful swimmers. She holds the world record of 4:24.38 in the women’s 400m individual medley, having beat her own mark at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials.
She also holds the Canadian record in the 200m butterfly at 2:04.06, only seconds off the world record. In Paris, she’ll compete in a packed schedule of a whopping four individual events plus relays across nine days.
McIntosh is a celebrity at the pool, signing autographs, taking selfies and interacting with young fans who follow her every move.
Her older sister, Brooke, is her best friend and a fellow athlete. She competes in figure skating and has Olympic aspirations of her own.
Quan Hongchan ready to defend her diving gold at Paris 2024
Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Quan Hongchan, 17, of the People's Republic of China dominates the sport of diving. She was only 14 when she performed two dives that earned straight scores of 10 from all seven judges in the women’s 10m platform. Her score total of 466.20, set a new Olympic record and she finished over 40 points ahead of the silver medallist.
More recently, at age 16, she clinched her first individual world title at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. Quan stepped up her performance through the competition, this time earning four perfect 10s on a back 3.5 somersault.
Now 17, Quan is ready for her second Olympic Games in top form looking more than capable of defending her gold medal. Quan, who comes from a large family in a rural village, is motivated to excel in her sport, not only for Olympic glory but also as a means of supporting her mother who was involved in a car accident years ago.
The teenager has captured the hearts of China—fans throw her stuffed animals, which she adds to her collection hanging off her backpack. Expect big cheers for this young prodigy when she takes to the diving board.
Hezly Rivera joins a veteran USA gymnastics team as the lone Olympic rookie
Hezly Rivera is set to compete in artistic gymnastics at her first Olympic Games among a squad of Olympic greats including Simone Biles and Suni Lee. The 16-year-old from New Jersey is the youngest member of Team USA gymnastics, having earned her berth in the pressure-filled U.S. Gymnastics Trials, where she shined with an incredible balance beam performance, finishing fifth all around.
Her teammate, Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, poked a little fun at the young Olympian before showering her with compliments, saying, “Should we teach her how to drive before she gets to Paris? Like, jeez. She’s so young, she’s so cute, she’s so smart, she’s beautiful. We’re really proud of her for making this team and we’re really excited to show her the ropes.”
Speaking to the media moments after being named to Team USA, the elated teen said, “I can’t believe I’m part of this team.” She added, “I never would have thought this would happen.”
Phoebe Gill heads to Paris 2024 with the backing of Great Britain's Olympic greats
At 17 years old, middle-distance runner Phoebe Gill will compete for Great Britain in the 800m after a resounding win at the recent British Championships in a field packed with Olympic finalists. She follows in the footsteps of another of Great Britain's teen sensations, Keely Hodgkinson, who made her athletics Olympic debut at age 19 at Tokyo 2020, winning silver in the 800m.
Hodgkinson, who is also headed to Paris 2024, was impressed by Gill’s Olympic qualifying performance, telling The Guardian, “I don’t want to put any pressure on her, but I think she is definitely up there with making the [Olympic] final if it goes the right way. She kind of reminds me of myself.”
Gill told the BBC Sport that she is looking forward to “a ton of fun” in Paris. “The hard bit is over. There's no expectation. I'm 17 coming into the Games. It's my first time with a GB vest; I just can't wait to experience it all.
She added, “I'm starting young, so hopefully, there's a few [more] coming up.”
Harimoto Miwa joins her older brother Tomokazu at Paris 2024
This will be the first Olympics for 15-year-old Harimoto Miwa, the rapidly ascending Japanese table tennis sensation. But she won’t be heading to the Games alone, she’ll be joining her big brother and fellow Olympian, Tomokazu, who previously won the bronze medal in the table tennis men's team event at Tokyo 2020.
Miwa is currently ranked 7th in the world. She doesn’t see her age as an advantage or disadvantage, telling Hindustan Times, “Although I’m one of the youngest players in the Japanese team, I feel age doesn’t really matter. My opponent won’t think of me as a child. I believe elder players are strong, so I try and have the same confidence as them.”
The teen, who only just started high school this April (age 15 to 18 in Japan), will now be making her Olympic debut in Paris!
Jeff Dunne, aka J-Attack, manifests his first Olympic Games at age 16
Jeff Dunne, aka J-Attack, has been breaking since first discovering his skills as a seven-year-old in his older sister’s hip-hop dance class. When he was 13, breaking’s Olympic inclusion was announced, and J-Attack made it his life’s goal. Fast forward three years, and the now 16-year-old B-Boy from New South Wales, Australia’s dream has become a reality.
One of the youngest breakers among the 16 men competing at the Games, J-Attack is not intimidated by his older competitors. He told Kids News, “All of these b-boys I’m going to be versing in the Olympics, I’ve looked up to them all my life. They know what they’re doing, they’ve been in this scene for ages, but I’m just gonna throw my best at them – and beat them.”
J-Attack’s mom, Rhondda, will be by his side as always in Paris, with his family cheering on from home as he gets ready to hit the stage at breaking’s Olympic premiere in Paris.
Eighteen-year-old Katie Grimes less starstruck, more prepared for her second Olympic Games
Teams USA's Katie Grimes is no stranger to being a teen Olympian in the spotlight. She competed in her first Olympic Games at age 15, qualified for her second at age 17, and is now back at age 18 competing in her second Games. As the youngest member of Team USA at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), Grimes finished an incredible fourth place in the women’s swimming 800m freestyle final.
In Paris, she’ll compete in the 10km, an open-water swimming event, the 400-metre IM and the 1500-metre freestyle.
Once again, Grimes will be joining another Katie—seven-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky—on Team USA. Ledecky has been a mentor to Grimes, she gave her the nickname “Katie Squared” due to their similarities in name, that they both made an Olympic Games at age 15, and that they competed in the same race.
Grimes told Olympics.com that she’s coming into these Games more prepared, “When I was 15, I was starstruck by everything, but this time, I have a little bit of a grasp of the scale of the Olympics, and I think that’s going to help a lot. I feel I’m much stronger and faster now, and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Quincy Wilson breaks longstanding under-18 record en route to his first Olympic Games
Like every athlete trying to make arguably the most competitive athletics team in the world, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson was under immense pressure at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials - Track & Field, and he rose to the occasion. The underdog made it through qualifying and semi-finals into the finals, a feat in itself in the heavily contested men’s 400m. In the final, he finished sixth in the field of nine. To add to that feat, Wilson broke the under-18 world record twice in the 400m (the latest being 44.59 seconds), the previous record had stood for 42 years.
While his sixth-place finish wasn't enough to earn a start in the 400m in Paris, Wilson is heading to the Olympic Games as part of the 4x400m relay pool, which includes mixed and men’s. If he does get called up in Paris, he’ll be the youngest American man ever to compete in Track and Field at the Olympics.
In his downtime, the upcoming high school junior at Maryland's Bullis school likes to play video games with his friends.
Yoshizawa Coco tops the street skateboarding rankings as the one to beat
Fourteen-year-old Yoshizawa Coco competes in street skateboarding—a sport with a huge depth of Japanese talent, so it was no easy feat to earn one of the nation’s three women's entries for the Games. It was at the Olympic Qualifier Series (OWS) where she broke from the pack to boost herself to the very top of the World Skateboard Rankings and earn her spot for Paris 2024.
Coco finished third in the inaugural OQS in Shanghai. Going into the second and final OQS in Budapest, she said: “I am aiming for even higher scores. I will definitely try and develop myself before that.”
And she did just that to win the OQS Budapest street final, with a huge staircase ollie flip to rail to boost her score under pressure.
Coco led a Japanese podium sweep along with world champion Yumeka Oda and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Nakayama Funa in second and third respectively.
The women’s street skateboarding field is one of the youngest, so Coco will be in good company with fellow 14-year-olds including Australia’s Chloe Covell, People’s Republic of China’s Cui Chenxi, and France’s Lucie Schoonheere as well as the youngest competitor, 12-year-old Vareeraya Sukasem from Thailand.
Coco is looking forward to her Olympic debut, saying “I have been a little nervous thinking about Paris, but after winning today and qualifying in first I am excited for the Olympics.”