CHILD OLYMPIANS CHILL : MASTER GLOBAL ESSAY

 

11-YEAR-OLDS don't belong in the Olympics. The unique power of the Olympics to captivate the imaginations of the young and inspire excesses in adults -

That we should feel queasy about an 11-year-old skateboarder from China competing in the Paris Games.

She's not an aberration; Some of the medalists in skateboarding in the 2021 Tokyo Games were 12 and 13, and other competitors this year are as young as 14. These children have inarguably earned their spot at the Olympics.

But watching preteens and teens contend on a global stage warps our expectations of children's athletics and distorts our thinking about the place of sports in all children's lives.

Almost a century ago, this country radically rethought the relationship of children and labor, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 imposed minimum age requirements for work and limited the number of hours that some children could be employed.

We should do the same with sports, starting with instituting a universal minimum age for competing in the Olympic Games and other international championships.

We need a model for youth sports that isn't hellbent on producing Olympians and that abolishes the early sorting of child athletes based on perceived ability. What's best for kids -including that tiny subset who might grow up to become Olympians -

Is lots of outdoor free play, exposure to a variety of athletic options and an approach to youth athletics that promotes widespread participation and sparks engagement and joy.

The International Olympic Committee imposes no limits on competitors' ages, leaving that decision to the international federation that governs each sport, so standards vary.

In track and field, World Athletics requires competitors to be at least 16, while its counterparts in swimming, World Aquatics, sets the age at 14.

The upshot? Who competes in Paris is determined by the jumble of rules dictated by international and national governing bodies.

Olympic events such as skateboarding are attracting ever-younger competitors, but children have long been present at the Games. A 10-year-old competed for Greece in gymnastics in 1896, and an 11-year-old competed for Romania in figure skating in 1968.

Champions gymnasts and figure skaters, including Nadia Comaneci and Tara Lipinski, routinely compete at 14 or 15.

The Master Essay continues into the future. The World Students Society thanks Linda Flanagan.