Who are the oldest and youngest athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games?
With the Olympics fast approaching, we take a look at who are the youngest and most veteran athletes participating in the sporting macro event in Japan.
The Tokyo Olympic Games, which will feature 339 events in 33 different sports, in a total of 50 disciplines, are just around the corner.
Alongside the five new sports that will be introduced, 15 new events within existing sports are also planned, including 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and the return of madison cycling.
During the Games, experience and wisdom will meet athleticism and freshness. Veteran competitors will try to prove that age is just a number, while the youngest athletes will be very motivated in their quest for gold and make history. These are the youngest and oldest athletes that will participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Andrew Hoy
The 62-year-old Australian equestrian and three-time Olympic gold medalist Andrew Hoy will compete in his eighth Olympics and will become Australia’s oldest male competitor in history. Only three athletes have participated in more Games.
Hoy’s achievement is even more laudatory taking into account he was not selected for the 2008 Beijing or 2016 Rio Games, as he could have equaled the record of 10 Games set by the retired Canadian equestrian rider Ian Millar.
Oksana Chusovitina
At 46 years of age, Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina will become the oldest woman ever to compete in Olympic gymnastics. The Tokyo Games will be her eighth Olympics. Since 1992, she has competed for the Soviet Republic’s unified team, Uzbekistan and Germany.
Hend Zaza
The 12-year-old Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza will be the youngest Olympian competing in Japan. No Syrian athlete, male or female, has ever competed at an Olympics in table tennis.
The Olympic women’s singles tournament will begin with the preliminary rounds on July 25 and the final will take place on July 30.
Kokona Hiraki
At 12, skateboarder Kokona Hiraki is Japan’s youngest summer Olympian. She qualified for the competition after finishing fifth at a Dew Tour event, the final Tokyo Olympics qualifier for women’s park skateboarding.
She will head to the Olympics alongside Sakura Yosozumi, who won the event, and Misugu Okamoto, who finished third.
Hiraki is set to break female swimmer Yukari Takemoto’s record, who took part in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games at the age of 13.
Sky Brown
The 13-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown, who was born in Japan but will be representing Great Britain at the Tokyo Games, is another of the youngest athletes that will compete in the multiple-sport event.
She will become the youngest British summer Olympian, surpassing the record of Margery Hinton, who was 31 days older when she swam in Amsterdam in 1928.