HERE COME THE KIDS! ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD CHINESE STAR ZHENG HAOHAO COMPETES ALONGSIDE TEAM GB'S SKY BROWN, 16, IN SKATEBOARDING - AND THERE'S A 40-YEAR AGE GAP TO ANOTHER BRITISH STAR!

Chinese star Zheng Haohao, 11, became the Paris Games' youngest Olympian
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History was made on Tuesday when an 11-year-old skateboarder made her Olympic debut, making her the Paris Games' youngest athlete.

Haohao, from China, also became her country's youngest ever Olympian when she took the the bowl in the women's park prelims.

Performing in the first set of heats, the youngster fell short in qualifying for the final after falling in two of her three runs, with the eight best scorers advancing.

Haohao, from Huizhou, was born after the London Games and made a late surge at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai and Budapest to see her rise to a world ranking of 26, and seal her spot in Paris.

It's a remarkable achievement for the Chinese skating prodigy, with Team GB's Sky Brown, 16, competing in the later prelims alongside 11 other medal hopefuls.

Brown also made headlines in Tokyo three years ago when she became Great Britain's youngest-ever medalist when she claimed bronze aged 13 years and 28 days.

Brown suffered a dislocated shoulder earlier this week but has recovered in time to compete in the later round of prelims.

She suffered the dislocation on Sunday on the eve of travelling to Paris.

Brown has had to recover from a knee injury in the build-up to competing after she tore the medial collateral ligament in her knee during a film shoot in April.

Another young Team GB star Lola Tambling, 16, was also in competition with Brown during her round of prelims.

With Haohao's rise naturally capturing fans' attention, it also means there is a mammoth 40-year age gap between her and the oldest skateboarder at the Games, Team GB's Andy Macdonald, 51.

Haohao finished 10th out of 12 skaters in the prelims, scoring 63.19 in her first run before two falls in her second and third runs saw her put up scores of 16.01 and 16.07 respectively, with her best score taken as her final ranking.

Ahead of the Games, Haohao's coach Danny Wainwright spoke highly of the Chinese skating prodigy, who turns 12 on August 12.

'She has done great and she has worked hard,' Wainwright told Olympics.com.

'She was 43rd, then 20, and then the next contest was 21, so she has done really well.'

In just four years since being gifted a skateboard, Haohao has made a sharp rise from competing on a national stage to the international one.

Ahead of her Games debut, Haohao, who has only been skating professional for the past two years, revealed her reason for starting skateboarding was to 'make new friends and have fun'.

But insisted that she's competing to win in Paris.

Posting to the Chinese social media site, Weibo, the youngster: 'I don't want to put any pressure on myself. I just want to show my best in Paris.'

She added: 'I want to tell the world that, even though I am young, I can skate well. I want to fulfil the dreams many adults have.'

As an 11-year-old, Haohao is remarkably not the Olympics youngest ever athlete.

That accolade falls to Greek gymnast Dimitros Loundras, who competed at the Athens Olympics in 1896 at the age of just 10 years old.

2024-08-06T12:37:36Z dg43tfdfdgfd