Competing in the Olympics is a dream for many kids. But usually it’s accompanied by a “when I grow up”. That disclaimer doesn’t apply for Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao, who’s living the dream already – at the tender age of 11. Zheng is making her Olympic debut at the 2024 Games in Paris.
If you’re wondering how that’s possible, the answer is simple: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not impose any age restrictions on competitors. However, individual sports can – and do. Unlike skateboarding, table tennis and surfing, where athletes of any age can qualify, boxing is one sport that sets both minimum and maximum limits (19 and 39 years old, respectively).
Zheng is not the only adolescent skateboarder gunning for gold in this year’s Summer Olympics. She’s up against Thai 12-year-old Vareeraya Sukasem, a 13-year-old Finn named Heili Sirvio and 14-year-old Canadian Fay De Fazio Ebert.
The women’s park skateboarding event takes place on 6 August. To help you understand who it is you’ll be cheering for, here’s the lowdown on China’s youngest-ever Olympian.
Who is Zheng Haohao?
Zheng was born on 11 August 2012, in Guangdong province’s city of Huizhou. She’s only been skateboarding for four years, taking it up after receiving a skateboard as a gift from her parents. “I started skateboarding just to make new friends and have fun,” she told Xinhua in a recent interview.
[See more: Which sports have been added to or removed from the 2024 Paris Olympics?]
In another interview, with China Daily, Zheng revealed that skateboarding usurped roller skating as her favourite sport. “Since I was introduced to skateboarding, [roller skating] dropped to second place,” she said. Zheng’s other hobbies include painting, dancing, music and chess.
Is she the youngest ever Olympian?
Not quite. While Zheng is officially the youngest athlete to feature at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she’s not the youngest-ever Olympian.
According to the Olympics’ official website, a 10-year-old Greek gymnast named Dimitrios Loundras competed at the 1896 Games in Athens. Loundras even won a bronze medal that year. He’s believed to be the youngest ever competitor.
The youngest female competitor, Italy’s Luigina Giavotti, was the same age as Zheng. She earned a silver medal in artistic gymnastics at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
How did Zheng earn her place at the Olympics?
Zheng started training at her local skateboarding club, which was run by the father of 2023 Asian Games skateboarding champion Chen Ye. Her former coach, Wei Naizhang, praised the young prodigy’s dedication to the sport in a Xinhua article – explaining that whenever Zheng couldn’t nail a trick, “she would immediately identify the problem and quickly correct it.”
At just nine years old, in 2020, the skateboarder made history by becoming the youngest athlete to compete at China’s National Games. She placed 14th in her category. Zheng won her first title at the 2022 Guangdong Provincial Games, and her first international outing was at last year’s World Skateboarding Tour in Argentina.
Her second time competing outside of China came in June, at the Budapest Olympic Qualifier Series. She secured her place by flawlessly pulling off an impressive trick known as a “540”. The aerial move requires both skater and skateboard to spin one and a half rotations in midair (540 degrees).
What does her mum think of all this?
While we are sure Zheng’s mother, Wang Ze, is incredibly proud of her world-class skateboarder daughter, she has had doubts about the rough-and-tumble sport. Wang told GD Today she used to worry about the endless injuries Zheng would come home with, including to her teeth and legs.
