Young Olympians
- Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 28, 2024
- 1 min read
Among the teenagers on the U.S. Olympic team are 16-year-olds Hezly Rivera, a gymnast, and Quincy Wilson, a runner on the relay team.
Rivera trains at World Olympics Gymnastics Academy in Texas. Wilson is an honor-roll student at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, where he'll be a junior.
Gymnastics has always been a young person's sport, but Wilson making the team for sprinting is great.
Another question to ask is how many other 16 year old have put in as many hours and as much money training and did not make it to the Olympics. Reaching the Olympics is a great story but a better story would be all of those athletes who tried just as hard but did not make it. Do they get a long term benefit or did wanting to be such an athlete force their life down a one way street with no long term benefits?
Some countries (not U.S.) have 11- and 12-year-olds on their skateboarding team. Female gymnasts have to be at least 16; 1996 was the last Olympics that didn't have a lower age limit.