- Chinese star Zheng Haohao, 11, became the youngest Olympian at the Paris Games
History was made on Tuesday when an 11-year-old skateboarder made her Olympic debut, becoming the youngest athlete to compete at the Paris Games.
China’s Haohao also became her country’s youngest Olympic competitor when she won the bowl in the women’s preliminary rounds in the park.
The young lady performed in the first set of the heats, but did not qualify for the final. She lost two of her three runs, but the top eight scorers did advance.
Born after the London Olympics, Haohao, originally from Huizhou, made a big breakthrough at the end of the Olympic qualifiers in Shanghai and Budapest, climbing to 26th place in the world rankings and securing a place in Paris.
It is a remarkable achievement for the Chinese skating prodigy, as 16-year-old Sky Brown of Team GB competed in the later heats along with 11 other medal contenders.
Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao, 11, became the youngest Olympian at the Paris Games
The 11-year-old (right) was born after the London Games and performed in the park’s preliminary rounds
Haohao becomes youngest person to fight on behalf of the Republic of China
The Chinese rising star put in a respectable run but fell short in qualifying for the final
Brown also made headlines in Tokyo three years ago when she became Britain’s youngest ever medallist, winning bronze at the age of 13 years and 28 days.
Brown suffered a dislocated shoulder earlier this week but recovered in time to compete in the later round of preliminaries.
The disruption occurred on Sunday, the night before her trip to Paris.
Brown had to recover from a knee injury leading up to the competition, after she tore the medial collateral ligament in her knee during a film shoot in April.
Haohao’s rise has obviously caught the attention of fans, but it also means there is a whopping 40-year age gap between her and the oldest skateboarder at the Games, Team GB’s Andy Macdonald, 51.
Haohao will compete alongside Team GB rising star Sky Brown, 16, who won bronze in Tokyo
The 16-year-old recently dislocated her shoulder, but recovered just in time for the preliminary rounds
Brown is ranked fourth in the world and has shown resilience in coming back from a knee injury
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Haohao finished tenth out of twelve skaters in the preliminary rounds, with a score of 63.19 in her first run. She then fell twice in her second and third runs, resulting in scores of 16.01 and 16.07, respectively. Her best score was considered her final ranking.
At 11 years old, Haohao is, remarkably, not the youngest athlete ever to compete at the Olympic Games.
That honor goes to the Greek gymnast Dimitros Loundras, who took part in the 1896 Athens Olympics at the age of 10.