Teen girls with Olympic superpowers: 11 inspiring young female athletes who are shaping the future of sport
On the International Day of the Girl Child, discover the teenage superstars changing the face of sport and giving girl power an Olympic-sized boost.
What do the first African gymnast to win an Olympic medal, the youngest-ever snowboard world champion, the first woman to land a 900 in a skateboarding half-pipe, and a figure skater named after a Japanese sports icon have in common?
They are all young, fearless, and have a bold vision for the future.
As the world marks International Day of the Girl Child on Friday, 11 October, we took a look at 11 teenage female athletes who are shaping the future of sport with their trailblazing performances and showing just how powerful being a young woman can be.
Arisa Trew, 14 – skateboarding
Skateboarding phenom Arisa Trew was making history even before she became Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic champion in any sport at age 14.
Trew got into the record books in 2023 as the first woman to land a 720 on a skateboard – a trick the sport's pioneer Tony Hawk invented in 1985 – and in late May 2024 she marked another historic milestone for female skateboarders by becoming the first to land the 900 in a half-pipe. Fast forward another two months and the young athlete was standing on top of the podium at her debut Olympic Games, at Paris 2024, as the youngest-ever Olympic champion in a women's or men’s park event.
A role model for skateboarders, Trew hopes her history-making streak will inspire even more girls to take up the sport.
“I think it's really cool doing something for the first time and, in women's skating, being the first," Trew said. "It just pushes all the girls to try new things, and even younger girls."
Flora Tabanelli, 16 – freestyle skiing
Italian freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli is coming of age under the biggest spotlight an athlete can have – a home Olympic Games looming on the horizon.
With less than 500 days to go until Milano Cortina 2026, Tabanelli is one of the host country’s big medal hopes having already proved her worth well beyond her 16 years. The freeskier has earned two third-place finishes on the senior World Cup circuit and was the most successful Italian athlete at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Winter Olympic Games where she won gold in the slopestyle and Big Air events. She is also a two-time junior world champion in Big Air.
Adding to her profile, Tabanelli made international headlines in May 2024 when she and older brother Miro jumped over Slovenian cyclist and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Tadej Pogacar as he pedalled along the mountain section of Giro d’Italia.
Kaylia Nemour, 17 – artistic gymnastics
For Kaylia Nemour, making Olympic history meant doing so not only for herself but also for her country and her continent. The 17-year-old became the first Algerian or African gymnast to win an Olympic medal when she took gold in the uneven bars on her Olympic debut at Paris 2024.
Practising artistic gymnastics since age 10, Nemour knows first-hand how influential a strong female role model can be for a young girl starting out in the sport – a role model she has now become for others.
“I think I inspire the little girls who see me every day in videos and in competitions," Nemour told Olympics.com. "I'm happy to pass on my passion to them through my gymnastics."
B-Girl Nicka, 17 – breaking
Dominika Banevic, better known as B-Girl Nicka, was five years old when she saw a breaking video for the first time and tried the dance sport moves in her living room in Lithuania. A few years later she is a world and European champion and an Olympic silver medallist.
All but one of her battle rivals at Paris 2024 were older than her, but the age gap on the dancefloor does not intimidate the talented teen who trains six hours every day.
“In breaking, it doesn't matter how old are you because you can be 15, you can be 20 or 30. What really matters is your level of breaking, how you dance," B-Girl Nicka told Olympics.com.
“The one thing that I want to show the most is who I am, that I'm Nicka and who is Nicka? I'm not trying to be someone else and I want to show everybody my unique style.”
Arelle Middleton, 16 – Para athletics
Arelle Middleton’s mother is a basketball coach, but it is in Para athletics where the young athlete found her true calling.
One of the youngest members of Team USA at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the 16-year-old took silver in the women’s shot put F64 in her Paralympic debut, becoming the country's youngest medallist at the Games, to match her silver from the world championships earlier the same year.
When not at Para competitions, Middleton also competes against able-bodied athletes at high school meets and masterfully balances daily training with schoolwork.
The secrets to her success? A well-planned schedule and her mother’s unwavering support.
“She’s super supportive and always wants me to do my best," Middleton told Olympics.com. "No matter what, she’s always proud of me and that helps a lot.”
Shimada Mao, 15 – figure skating
Being named after a Japanese figure skating legend and competing in the same sport can be a heavy burden to carry, but Shimada Mao is handling the comparisons to Asada Mao with impeccable grace. And living up to the glittering track record of the Olympic silver medallist and three-time world champion as well.
Shimada is the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal in the women's singles at the Youth Olympic Games and the first Japanese skater, female or male, to win back-to-back Junior Grand Prix Finals. She is also a two-time junior world champion.
All this at the age of 15. Shimada is so young, in fact, that she will not be eligible to make her senior Olympic Games debut until 2030. It is a debut the figure skating world is already anticipating with eagerness and the way things are going so far, the young skater certainly seems likely to live up to the hype.
Summer McIntosh, 18 – swimming
Paris 2024 was a European summer of celebrations, a summer of friendships, and a summer of heroic feats in the face of challenges. But ultimately, it was the “Summer of Summer”.
Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh was the toast of the season as she won medals in each of her four individual events: gold in the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley, and silver in the 400m freestyle. She also set two Olympic records along the way.
McIntosh signed off from the French capital by carrying the Canadian flag at the Closing Ceremony as the country’s most decorated athlete at these Games. Exactly a week later, she turned 18.
"It honestly makes me really emotional to think that there's kids on TV watching me because I was once in their shoes not that long ago,” McIntosh told Olympics.com.
“To now have that responsibility to inspire the next generation of swimmers and athletes, and just in general all those kids out there, I hope that they find their passion like I did, and that they run with it, and they can work as hard as they can, and they can achieve any goal that they want."
Lara Colturi, 17 – alpine skiing
Alpine skiing runs in the genes for Albania’s Lara Colturi so it is no wonder she had an early start in the sport. What is remarkable, however, is how early she started making an impact.
The daughter of Salt Lake City 2002 women’s Super-G gold medallist Daniela Ceccarelli who is now her coach, Colturi made her first appearance at the senior World Cup in November 2022, four days after her 16th birthday. Just over a year later, in January 2024, she celebrated her first Top 10 result on the circuit when she finished ninth in slalom in Flachau.
“I am not thinking too much about my age, and I prefer to avoid comparisons with her or other important skiers,” Colturi said. “Everyone has their own journey, but I think making a World Cup debut at such a young age could represent a great opportunity to gain experience.”
Colturi is also a 2023 junior world champion in Super-G and a two-time bronze medallist in giant slalom.
Rayssa Leal, 16 – skateboarding
Most athletes wear sports uniforms when they burst into the spotlight. Rayssa Leal was wearing a blue princess dress.
In the viral video from 2015, the then seven-year-old Brazilian skateboarder is seen performing a “fairy heelflip” in her sparkly attire. Nine year later, Leal is a two-time Olympic medallist, two-time world champion, and an internationally recognised face of her sport.
Now 16, Leal is an inspiration for other Brazilian girls who are following in her footsteps, such as 13-year-old Manuh Moretti, 15-year-old Daniela Vitoria, and 14-year-old Maria Lucia De Campos. All of them made their debut at the World Skate Games Italia 2024 with Leal and fellow Brazilian Olympians cheering on from the sidelines.
“When Manuh was competing in the first heat, I imagined myself in her place,” Leal told Olympics.com.
“Knowing that they are inspired by us and will compete in these championships, travel with their skateboards and do everything with their skateboards, that's really cool.”
Darja Varfolomeev, 17 – rhythmic gymnastics
Germany's medal tally in rhythmic gymnastics sat at one bronze for 40 years. And then Darja Varfolomeev came along.
The 17-year-old put the country back on the Olympic podium at Paris 2024 with gold in the all-around.
Her mother Tatjana, a former competitive rhythmic gymnast, first took Varfolomeev to the gym at 3 years old. As the young girl became more serious about the sport, she made the difficult choice to move to Germany, her grandfather’s birth country, where she could continue training. Thirteen at the time of the move, Varfolomeev was living in a boarding school with other gymnasts for the first three years. Her parents moved to Germany later.
The sacrifices paid off when she became the youngest-ever rhythmic gymnast to achieve a clean sweep of five individual gold medals at the world championships in 2023. A year later, she won Olympic gold, which was the first Olympic medal for Germany in the sport in four decades.
Mia Brookes, 17 – snowboarding
Great Britain is not known as a winter sports powerhouse, but Mia Brookes is one of those helping to change that.
The 17-year-old became the youngest-ever snowboarding world champion when she won slopestyle gold in 2023. Fuelled by Rage Against the Machine and Metallica, Brookes landed the first-ever Cab 1440 double flip in a women’s FIS competition to claim the win in her world championships debut. She is also a 2022 junior world champion in Big Air and silver medallist in slopestyle.
While Brookes has yet to win a World Cup, she reached the podium in five of the 10 events she competed in and has never placed lower than 9th place. That consistency earned her the overall 2023-24 FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup title.
The world champion and heavy metal aficionado lists two-time Olympic gold medallist Jamie Anderson of the United States as her role model, and is still taken aback by the notion that other snowboarders are now idolising her.
“I can't imagine that anybody would look up to me the way that I would look up to Jamie Anderson," Brookes told Olympics.com. "It's pretty crazy to think that I could be someone's hero.
“I hope it’s one of many victories.”
