Skateboarder Zheng Haohao is 11. She is also one of the youngest competitors at the Paris Olympics. That may be an impressively tender age to be an elite athlete but Zheng isn’t unique in her youth: she’s one of a clutch of formidable young Olympians at this year’s games.
There’s also Team USA’s Hezly Rivera who made her debut in gymnastics at the Paris Olympics, having just turned 16. Then there are the teens competing in their second Olympic Games. Team GB’s Sky Brown made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo games, aged 13 – and won a bronze medal. Brown won another bronze in Paris, despite carrying an injury. She’d just turned 16. Paris 2024 was also the second Olympics for 18-year-old Team USA swimmer Katie Grimeswho debuted at Tokyo aged just 15.
The youngest known Olympic athlete is ten-year-old gymnastic bronze medal winner Dimitrios Loundraswho competed in the 1896 games at Athens. As you can guess, then, there is no age limit for competitors in the Olympic Games – unless a specific International Sports Federation wishes to introduce one. This means that as long as young athletes show they’re good enough, they can compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games against the world’s best.
Competing in the Olympics might be considered the pinnacle of any athletic career, but there may be a dark side for young sportspeople peaking so early on the world stage. A report released by the International Olympic Committee on youth athletic development stated that sports with high early participation rates, such as gymnastics, had the highest burden of injury.
While the report considered the effect of psychological overload from stress on young Olympians, it didn’t acknowledge the potentially destructive psychological impact of committing fully to an identity of being “an athlete” from a very young age.
Too much, too young
In the general population, identity development tends to continue into adulthood. However, child athletes invest large amounts of time, resources and energy into their sport – while sacrificing other important developmental experiences along the way.
They’re also at risk of committing prematurely to their athletic identity – or even foreclosing their identity – so they may not explore or nurture other parts of themselves and overlook any planning and investment in their future selves.
The Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP) outlines the typical career trajectory of an athlete, including the requirements to achieve international success. This model is one of the most widely cited conceptualisations of athletic development in sports research. The DMSP states that there are three stages of athlete development: the sampling years (ages six to 12); the specialising years (ages 13 to 15); and the investment years (ages 16 plus). So, during their early teens, athletes begin to focus on one sport and go on to fully invest in it as they reach late teens, eventually achieving peak performance in adulthood.
However, there are exceptions to this timeline. Early childhood is considered to be an optimal period in motor developmentso specialisation between the ages of five to seven years is considered normal in sports that require complex coordination, including aesthetic sports such as gymnastics, swimming, diving and figure skating – and more recently skateboarding and table tennis.
Of course, athletes who follow the DMSP career trajectory can also be at risk of identity foreclosure, but what sets early specialisation athletes apart is that they achieve their performance peaks in adolescence – between the ages of 15 and 20 – and begin the retirement transition in early adulthood, between the ages 20 to 25.
For example, at 27, Simone Biles is the oldest US women’s gymnast to compete in the Olympics in more than 70 years. Biles recently said she needed to apologise to her former teammate Aly Raisman for referring to her as a “grandma” at the Rio Olympics in 2016 – when Raisman was 22-years-old.
In contrast, endurance sport athletes, like those competing in cross-country skiing and marathons, are more likely to specialise in adolescence and achieve their performance peaks in middle adulthood (ages 25–35), allowing them to retire much later.
A double-edged sword
But it’s not all bad for young athletes. Dedication to the athletic identity can be an important psychological resourcehelping youth athletes find their way to Olympic success. For instance, it can help athletes to commit to intense training schedulesincrease their self-confidence and self-esteem and make the necessary sacrifices to rest and recover.
But when faced with retirement – either voluntarily or due to injury, deselection or no longer meeting the qualifying standards – athletes who have specialised early in life may find that athletes in other sports are just starting to peak. Those still-young people then have to establish who they are without the sport which has dominated their life. At this point, their athletic identity may become a barrier to adapting to retirement, which can lead to severe emotional disturbances and mental health issues.
It is important, then, that governing bodies, coaches, parents and guardians are aware of the problems faced by youth athletes, who’ve lived out the majority of their careers while having the needs of children and adolescents. Youth athletes have to negotiate the challenges of being an elite sportsperson with their own physical and emotional development. They must also balance their education alongside intense training and competition schedules.
Psychological support, with a focus on personal development and coping strategies, could help youth athletes to manage these demands.
Research also suggests that post-retirement distress could be alleviated by incorporating pre-retirement planning into youth athletes’ lifestyle support programs from a very young age. When facing a planned retirement, their exit from sport should be carefully managed to allow the athlete a sense of control. Athletic participation can be reduced gradually while the person finds a meaningful replacement for the sport.
So, while we may gasp in astonishment and admiration at the ages of the youngest Olympians, it’s not all adulation and medals. Some youth athletes pay too high a price for their Olympic success.