On Friday morning, a 13-year-old named Adzo Kpossi from Togo competed in the 50m freestlye. Who are the other young athletes in the London Games? We’ve put together a photo gallery highlighting a few of those unbelievably young and incredibly talented Olympians—and Kpossi wins the medal for being the youngest.
Meet Adzo Kpossi. This beautiful girl with a smile that stretches wide across her face is from Togo, a skinny little West African country of about 6 million people.
This morning Kpossi dove into a pool of cold water and competed in the first heat of the first round of the women’s 50m freestyle in the London Olympics.
Adzo Kpossi is the youngest athlete at the London Olympic Games. (Martin Bureau / Getty)
Kpossi came in second in her three-person heat, beating Masempe Theko from Lesotho but not catching Nafissatou Moussa Adamou, a 14-year-old from Niger. In the end, Kpossi ended up coming in 72nd in a field of 73 swimmers, but her performance was still notable. She beat her personal best time—and she’s getting a lot of attention as the youngest athlete in the London Olympic Games. Kpossi is 13 years old.
After her race, Kpossi stopped to talk to the press. Andy Bull at the London Guardian reports on Kpossi’s race and offers a taste of a young Olympian’s personality:
Was [Kpossi] excited just to be here? “No, no, no” she said, stamping her foot. “I am used to it. I went to the world championships in Shanghai last year, so this wasn’t my first time swimming in a big pool.”
It was almost a little diva-ish, until you remembered that even a 13-year-old can spot the press’s attempts to patronise them. Yes, she said, she trains at the one pool in her part of the country, at the Hotel Mercure in Sarakawa. No, we didn’t need to sympathise with her, because it is really quite a nice place to practise. And with that, she broke into giggles and scampered off down the corridor, arm-in-arm with her 19-year-old friend and fellow swimmer, Assita Touré from the Ivory Coast.
The world has long been struck by young Olympians. We often wonder how can a 13 or 14 or 15 year old be so strong, talented and poised? It’s one thing to swim in the Olympics. It’s another thing to compete at age 15 as Michael Phelps did in 2000 in Sydney. At the time he was the “youngest American male swimmer at an Olympic Games in 68 years.” He didn’t get a medal that year but he has since gone on to win so many that you have to wonder what he ever does with all those medals.
Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras is thought to be the youngest Olympian ever. At age 10 he competed in the team parallel bars event, according to Wikipedia. He even went home with a bronze medal.
Today a 10-year-old gymnast could never compete. While there aren’t any overall age requirements for the Olympics, certain sports have specific rules. For example the International Gymnastics Federation “requires that gymnasts turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible.” But not everyone follows the rules and age falsification has been a problem since the 1980s, according to the London Guardian. The Chinese gymnastics team famously (and scandalously) lost a bronze medal in the 2000 Sydney Games because it lied about the age of one of its team members.
In swimming there are no age requirements and Adzo Kpossi, who might be shockingly young, is perfectly legit (and fit). She placed 72nd today, but we can only look forward to her performances in years to come. In four years she could be a gold medalist.
