Sports
Explained: The rules for under-18s competing in the Paris Olympics
As the eyes of the sporting world turn to host city Paris, extra focus will fall on the hundreds of children competing at the 2024 Olympic Games.
While some sports — including diving, gymnastics, wrestling and boxing — have minimum ages for when athletes can take part, others, such as skateboarding, surfing and table tennis, have no restrictions.
Skateboarding, which made its Olympics debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021 (delayed a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic), attracts a particularly young field, with Finland’s Heili Sirvio and Hasegawa Mizuho of Japan, who are 13, and Zheng Haohao, a Chinese athlete who is just 11 years old, appearing in the French capital.
So what are the rules on under-18s performing at the Games? How do these differ between various sports? Where do these children stay and how are they looked after?
What is the minimum age requirement for the Olympics?
There is no specific age limit to compete at the Games. Age restrictions are set by the international federations in charge of each sport, rather than the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Arguably the most famous performance by a child at the Olympics was Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci receiving a series of perfect 10 scores from the judges at the 1976 Montreal Games when she was 14.
Comaneci was 14 when received a perfect score at the 1976 Olympics (AFP via Getty Images)
Several Olympic sports have no age restrictions, at either end of the scale. In skateboarding at these Games, for example, Great Britain & Northern Ireland have 16-year-olds Sky Brown and Lola Tambling competing alongside Andy Macdonald, who turns 51 next week.
However, for most other sports, there is a minimum age. For example, female gymnasts must now be at least 16 — and there have been growing calls for that to be raised to 18, in line with their male equivalents — while divers must be at least 14, as was the case with Team GB’s Tom Daley at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. In judo, it’s 14, and in wrestling it’s 18.
In boxing, the minimum age is 19 and the maximum is 39. Special permission was given to Finland’s Mira Potkonen who was 40 in Tokyo after the Olympics were delayed by a year due to the pandemic. She went on to finish third in the women’s lightweight category, becoming the oldest boxer to win a medal at the Games.
The men’s football event is essentially an under-23s competition, but each 18-strong squad is allowed three overage members.
In the UK, athletes have to be at least 20 for marathons/race-walking and 18 to take part in throwing events, the heptathlon and decathlon and the 10,000m. Athletes as young as 16 can appear in other track events so long as they have “demonstrated a consistent level of performance, as well as previous experience at major international competition, which suggests that selection for senior competition is appropriate for their long-term development”.
In Paris, this is set to include 17-year-old Phoebe Gill in the women’s 800m. She could become the youngest British track athlete at an Olympics for more than 40 years.
How are child athletes protected at the Games?
At the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC brought in chaperones for under-16 athletes.
This time, the IOC is encouraging each national team to have a safeguarding officer and is offering two extra accreditations for welfare officers.
Athletes aged under 18 are allowed to stay at the Olympic Village, home to around 10,000 competitors across the Games, situated in the Saint-Denis area of northern Paris, near the Stade de France. However, whether they actually do so is down to each individual country.
Athletes under 18 will have to pair up with a buddy when they walk around the Olympic Village (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Scott Field, director of communications for Team GB, explained how careful attention is being paid to who their youngest athletes share a room with.
“We have a welfare plan that dictates how sports should manage where and who athletes room with, in the Olympic Village or other accommodation,” Field told The Athletic. “Under-16s would have a chaperone with them, who must also accompany them when outside of the Olympic Village/their satellite accommodation.
“We have an extensive welfare guide that supports young people in their stay at the Olympics. We also have a dedicated group of designated safeguarding officers who are on hand to provide welfare support throughout the Games.”
Australia has decided the three youngest athletes in its 460-strong team — Arisa Trew and Chloe Covell, both 14, and 15-year-old Ruby Trew, who are all skateboarders — will stay in a hotel rather than the athletes’ village, UK newspaper The Guardian has reported.
Those under-18s who are in the Olympic village will not share a bedroom with an adult. The apartments will have a supervisor, and the under-18s will have to pair up with a buddy when they walk around the athletes’ village. They will have a supervisor with them for any trips outside the village (requiring consent from parents), or they can be checked out by their parents.
The IOC added this year’s Olympics will have “the most comprehensive package of mental health and safeguarding tools, initiatives and services than any other sporting or Olympic event in history”. This includes having more than 160 accredited welfare officers from 87 national Olympic committees at the Games, a new AI-powered monitoring service to protect athletes from online hate, and two safeguarding officers in the Olympic Village.
What concerns has this led to?
In recent years, sexual-abuse cases, doping scandals and faking ages have shone a light on the concerns around the exploitation of child athletes.
This was seen most recently with the doping case involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who was 15 when she won gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. It emerged she had previously tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and Valieva received a four-year ban, backdated to her positive result in December 2021.
Her young age fuelled a debate as to why only she had been punished, and not the Russian doctors who gave her the drugs. The Court of Arbitration for Sport revealed Valieva had been given 56 different medications and supplements between the ages of 13 and 15.
Travis Tygart, the United States’ anti-doping chief, said the number of medications given to her was “sickening”. Olivier Niggli, the director general of the WADA, described it as “shocking”, and said Valieva was “sacrificed” to protect those responsible.
Valieva won gold in Beijing but was later banned for four years (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Under WADA’s code, under-16s are “protected persons”, which means they are subjected to lighter penalties, adding to the fears around exploitation.
Valieva’s case led to the International Skating Union raising the minimum age for athletes in its most high-profile competitions from 15 to 17, a change that would be phased in over three years before the next Winter Olympics in Italy in early 2026.
Meanwhile, the U.S. gymnastics sex abuse scandal saw Larry Nassar, a former doctor for USA Gymnastics, convicted and sentenced to over 300 years in prison in 2018 after being accused of abuse by more than 250 athletes, including four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles. In the UK, a report into gymnastics in 2022 found there had been an epidemic of abuse, which included young athletes being starved and made to hang from the rings used in one of the sport’s events as punishment.
Going further back, X-ray bone analysis in 2009 revealed 3,000 young Chinese athletes had faked their ages — giving them an unfair advantage in competition.
Former WADA deputy director general Rob Koehler is now director general of Global Athlete, a group that has concerns about children competing at the Olympics at all.
“If you look at the Valieva case, it clearly indicated that young kids should not be going to the Games,” Koehler told The Athletic. “In any other professional sport, and this is professional sport, there are age limits — for example, in the NHL (the top ice-hockey league in the U.S. and Canada), before you can be drafted. They should use the Youth Olympics for youth athletes. That’s where there’s extra attention, time spent on education and time spent on culture.
“The WADA code also treats under-16s differently. That alone means you lose all the harmonisation and the quality.
“Do you want a 15-year-old child to have that much pressure on them at the Olympic Games? It’s a tough place to be.
“We think there needs to be age limits and they should be put in straight away.”
(Top photo: Skateboarder Zheng Haohao will compete in the Paris Olympics at age 11; He Canling/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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The highly anticipated 30th WNBA season tipped off Friday with three games, including the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever contest.
The action continued Saturday with a full slate, including Caitlin Clark’s return after an injury-riddled sophomore season.
Clark and the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon in a matchup featuring the four most recent No. 1 overall picks. The Wings outlasted the Fever 107-104, but the game was defined by Azzi Fudd’s — the most recent top pick — underwhelming debut.
Dallas Wings guards Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers react during the first half of the Fever’s season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 9, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Fudd played 18 minutes off the bench, scoring three points — the lowest ever by a No. 1 overall pick in a WNBA debut.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez addressed Fudd’s performance after the game, encouraging the rookie to, “Keep doing what she’s doing, it’s her first year in the league. We got five really talented backcourt players.”
EX-WNBA STAR CRITICAL OF SKY ROOKIE HAILEY VAN LITH, BELIEVES POPULARITY PLAYED ROLE IN DRAFT SELECTION
In addition to Fudd, Dallas’ backcourt features last year’s top draft pick Paige Bueckers, last season’s No. 12 overall pick Aziaha James, four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and starting guard Odyssey Sims.
Until Saturday, Kelsey Plum held the record for the lowest-scoring debut by a No. 1 pick. Selected first overall by the then-San Antonio Stars in 2017, she scored just four points in her debut. The Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as the Aces.
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd warms up before the game against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2026. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Despite the slow start to her first season in the league, Plum ended the year with All-Rookie team honors. In the years since, she’s been named to four All-Star teams and won two championships with the Aces.
The Wings’ decision to take Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick drew controversy, raising questions about whether Bueckers’ personal relationship with her influenced the selection. Late last month, Bueckers said last month it did not.
Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)
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“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player,” Bueckers said, according to ESPN.
Neither Bueckers nor Fudd has publicly updated their relationship status since the April draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers also said in April. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
Next up, the Wings play their home opener on Tuesday when they host the Atlanta Dream.
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The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
Even so, the Lakers have now lost all three games by double digits.
And the Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Game 4 is Monday night, when the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations go with James if they lose.
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him.
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
That will be the conversation if the Lakers can’t win Game 4.
They will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never did, going down by 112-94 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds left, forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout.
The deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth.
They were outscored 33-20 in the third quarter. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range,
The Lakers did not give an inch to the Thunder in the first half, even when they fell behind by 10 points.
They just kept grinding until they led 59-57 at halftime.
Hachimura had 16 points in the first half, continuing his hot three-point shooting by making all four of his threes. Luke Kennard came off the bench to give the Lakers 13 points, shooting five for six from the field and three for four from three-point range.
The Lakers kept the pressure defense on Gilgeous-Alexander. Though he had 14 points in the first half, he shot only four for 14 from the field and one for five from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55% from three-point range in the first half, which went a long way in helping them.
The Lakers lost the first two games by identical margins of 18 points and each loss was magnified because Gilgeous-Alexander was kept under wraps for the most part by L.A.’s defense.
When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter of Game 2 and went to the bench, the Thunder turned a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
So, when he wasn’t on the court, the Lakers failed to take advantage.
“Well, you know, again, I’ll repeat what I said after the game: we’ve got to be better in the non-Shai minutes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Role players like Mitchell and Jared McCain hurt the Lakers in the second game. Chet Holmgren also was hard to deal with.
“Mitchell and McCain have hurt us in those non-Shai minutes, and then Chet [Holmgren] has hurt us the whole game,” Redick said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to live with something. Shai playing one-on-one, thus far in the series, we haven’t been willing to live with, so you’re going to be in rotation. That can lead to smalls on bigs at the hole, and the offensive rebounding from Chet has really hurt us.”
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In 2025, Alex Palou kicked off the Month of May with a Sonsio Grand Prix win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Based on the odds, it’s likely that Palou will find himself in Winner’s Circle again this Saturday when INDYCAR goes back to IMS on May 9 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
Considering Palou has already captured the checkered flag three times this season, are there any other drivers whose odds are worth a wager?
Here are the latest lines at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 9.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Sonsio Grand Prix 2026
Àlex Palou: 5/18 (bet $10 to win $12.78 total)
Kyle Kirkwood: 5/1 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Pato O’Ward: 12/1 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
David Malukas: 14/1 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Josef Newgarden: 16/1 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Scott McLaughlin: 20/1 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian Lundgaard: 30/1 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Scott Dixon: 40/1 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Will Power: 60/1 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Felix Rosenqvist: 80/1 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alexander Rossi: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Ericsson: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Armstrong: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Christian Rasmussen: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Graham Rahal: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Louis Foster: 300/1 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Dennis Hauger: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Romain Grosjean: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Santino Ferrucci: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Rinus Veekay: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Kyffin Simpson: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Caio Collet: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Sting Ray Robb: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Nolan Siegel: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Mick Schumacher: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
Heavy Favorite: It doesn’t look like Alex Palou’s dominance will be slowing down anytime soon. As noted above, he’s already won three of the five races since the INDYCAR season started in March. With 186 laps led, Palou sits first in the standings and has the shortest odds to win the title again. Last season, he started from the pole and led 29 laps before winning the race.
Long Shot to Watch: While his odds of 150/1 to win at IMS are much longer than Palou’s, Graham Rahal is one to watch. At this race in 2025, he started second and led 49 laps before finishing sixth. He finished second at this course in 2015, 2020 and 2023. He’s currently 10th in the INDYCAR standings, with one top five and three top 10s.
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