Age is just a number, as they say, but that number comes with some serious bragging rights when it comes to the Olympics. Here’s a look at the youngest — and oldest — athletes throughout the history of the Summer Olympics.
U.S. athletes in Paris
There is a 43-year age gap between the youngest and oldest U.S. athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics. U.S. gymnast Hezly Rivera turned 16 on June 4, less than a month before she was named to her first Olympic team. She is about five months younger than 16-year-old sprinter Quincy Wilson, who is the youngest male track and field athlete ever to represent the U.S. at the Olympics. Wilson made the relay pool for the U.S. squad with a blazing 400m time of 44.94 in the Olympic Trials final in June. His time of 44.59 in the Trials semifinal broke the U-18 world record set in 1982.
The oldest — or shall we say the most seasoned — U.S. Olympian this year is 59-year-old equestrian Steffen Peters, who is competing in his sixth Olympics. Peters has three medals to his name and is aiming for a fourth before he turns 60 in September.
Even Peters’ horse, Suppenkasper – perhaps better known as Rave Horse – is three months older than Rivera, but is still a touch younger than Wilson. Way to establish that seniority, Quincy.
Youngest athletes in Summer Olympic history
The youngest athlete in Summer Olympic history is Dimitrios Loundras, a male gymnast from Greece. Loundras was merely 10 years old when he won a bronze medal in the 1896 Athens Olympics. (Granted, Greece finished third out of three teams in the team parallel bars event, but an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal!)
The youngest female athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics is Luigina Giavotti. She collected a silver medal at 11 years old as part of the Italian gymnastics team in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
The youngest athlete in this year’s Olympics is also 11 years old: Chinese park skateboarder Zheng Haohao. She started competing in global events just last year.
Oldest athletes in Summer Olympic history
Septuagenarians, this one’s for you! The oldest athletes in Summer Olympic history both competed in their seventies. Sweden’s Oscar Swahn was 72 years old — and close to 73 — when he competed in shooting at the 1920 Antwerp Games. He earned a silver medal for a target shooting team event called “men’s 100m team running deer, double shots.” He also qualified for the 1924 Olympics in Paris at age 76, but he withdrew without competing.
Lorna Johnstone is the oldest female athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics. She had just turned 70 when she appeared in her third and final Summer Olympics in 1972 in Munich, representing Great Britain in individual and team equestrian events.