From young prodigy to golden veteran: The youngest and oldest stars shining at the Paris 2024 Olympics
The youngest Olympian competing at Paris 2024 was born on the penultimate day of the London 2012 Olympics – just let that sink in…
Yes, really. At just 11 years and 11 months old, skateboarder Zheng Haohao is making history at the Olympics this summer - just before she turns 12.
Not only is she the youngest Olympian at these Games, but she is set to become the People’s Republic of China’s youngest ever Olympian.
It all makes for a remarkable 54-year age gap with the oldest competitor at Paris 2024, 65-year-old Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo of Spain, who made his equestrian Olympic debut at Sydney 2000.
Meet Zheng Haohao, the 11-year-old skateboarder at Paris 2024
Born on August 11, 2012, Zheng took up skateboarding aged seven for a very simple reason.
"Somebody told me skateboarding was fun and I bought one,” she said. “It is fun indeed."
And at just 11, Zheng is set to make her Olympic debut against competitors she also counts as idols, friends, and are ultimately just teenagers themselves.
“I’m a fan of skateboarders like Great Britain’s Sky Brown, Japan’s Hiraki Kokona and Australia’s Arisa Trew. They really have a lot of style and they are some of the best skateboarders in the world,” she said after the Women’s Park Preliminary round of the OQS Shanghai 2024 in May.
“I’m friends with Arisa and I really want to learn from her and become better like her. I see them sometimes when I go overseas for competitions, so I’d chat with them sometimes and pick up some tips. We hang out together, dance together and just be silly together.”
Brown (16), Trew (14) and Hiraki (15) will be competing against Zheng in the women’s park event on Tuesday 6 August, which starts with the preliminaries in the morning before the final takes place in the late afternoon.
Hiraki (silver) and Brown (bronze) made the podium three years ago at Tokyo 2020, and will be going for gold this time around.
Zheng, meanwhile, finished 23rd on her world championship debut in 2023, and will be China’s sole representative in the event.
All 22 athletes listed for the women’s park were born between 2001 and 2012, making 23-year-old Dora Varella of Brazil the 'veteran' of this competition packed with young stars not just for the future – but making history and showcasing their sport to the world right now.
Meet Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo, the 65-year-old in equestrian at Paris 2024
And so to Jimenez Cobo, who was 41 when competing in his first Olympics, 12 years before Zheng was born.
Jimenez Cobo first represented Spain at Sydney 2000 before enjoying a memorable Athens 2004, winning silver in the team dressage in what was his most recent Olympics until now.
That has made for a mighty 20-year gap between his second and third Olympic appearances.
During that time, Jimenez Cobo has run a dressage school: the Escuela de Doma Clasica Juan Antonio Jimenez in Torrejon de Ardoz near Madrid. He also coached in Peruvian national dressage team.
At Paris he became the oldest Spanish Olympian in history at 65, competing in Group E, where a score a 60.031 on horse Euclides Mor was not enough to qualify for the individual or team finals.
Nevertheless, it was still an Olympics to remember for Jimenez Cobo, who also won team bronze at the 2002 World Equestrian Games.
There is one athlete older than Jimenez Cobo in Paris, 69-year-old Mary Hanna of Australia, but she is listed as an alternate for the team dressage event and is yet to take part at her seventh Olympics.