These Are The Youngest Aussie Athletes Who Have Qualified For An Olympic Games
The Olympic Games might attract the best athletes in their chosen sporting pursuits, but it also attracts athletes of all ages. While you’d assume that the best tend to be those with years of experience, honing both their physical skills and athletic ability as well as the mental toughness and stamina to compete at such a high level, some Olympians prove that age is merely a number and doesn’t have anything to do with one’s talent nor what they are capable of.
Just take 12-year-old Connie Psihogios. The table tennis prodigy hasn’t even finished high school, but already she’s proving to be a dominant force in the sport of table tennis. Ever since seeing her sport played at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Psihogios had dreams of making it to the international stage. While she just narrowly missed selection for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she’ll hope to qualify for the next.
If Psihogios had qualified though, she would have been amongst the youngest in Olympics history. The consensus seems to be that Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras was just 10-years-old when he competed at the 1896 games in Athens, becoming the youngest Olympic athlete ever. Two others have become Olympians at the age of 11, and Australia certainly has some young stars to add to the exclusive list, too.
Here, we take a look at the youngest Aussie athletes to have qualified for an Olympic Games.
Sandra Morgan
At the Melbourne 1956 Olympics, Morgan teamed up with three medalists from the 100 metres freestyle, Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp and Faith Leech, to win the first medal by an Australian women’s swimming relay team at the Olympic Games. In doing so, Morgan became the youngest gold medalist of the Olympics at Melbourne and still holds that distinction for Australian Olympians. She was just 14 years and six months at the time.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJKAoTjaPa/
Kyle Chalmers
Chalmers became the 12th youngest Australian to claim an individual swimming gold medal at an Olympic Games. In 2015, Chalmers made his debut on the Australian swim team and at just 18-years-old, he took out gold in the men’s 100 metre freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He even set a new junior world record in the process and claimed two further medals at Rio, picking up two bronze medals in the relays.
Shane Gould
Gould stunned the world as a 15-year-old in Munich, winning three gold medals in three separate world-record times. She won the Olympic 200m and 400m freestyle and the 200m medley, but finished third in the 100m and second in the 800m. Within a year, Gould decided to retire as she explained it just “wasn’t fun anymore.”
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https://www.instagram.com/p/B2gbSpWAXiS/
Aislin Jones
Skeet shooter Aislin Jones became the youngest Australian athlete aiming for gold at the Ri Olympics. She became the youngest shooting athlete to compete at an Olympics, being just 16 years old when she was selected to represent her country. Jones was just 10-years-old when she became passionate about shooting after tagging along with her father as he fired at clay targets at the Bairnsdale Field and Game club. She attained her junior firearm permit at 12.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZXVV9ntjc/
Ellie Carpenter
At 16-years-old, Carpenter became one of the youngest athletes on the 400 plus Australian Olympic Team set for Rio when she was named in the Matildas squad. The defender signed her first W-League contract with the Western Sydney Wanderers at 15, leading to a breakout season that caught the attention of national selectors and earned Carpenter an invite to her first Matildas training camp in November, 2015.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CFUPv4EBgKo/
Liesel Jones
Leisel Jones was just 15-years-old when she collected her silver medal in the 100 metres breaststroke at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She had qualified as the youngest member of the Australian Swim Team for the Olympic Games.
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