Aug 8, 2008

Children of the Gold

Photo courtesy of Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.


With today marking the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in China, I thought about the children of the Olympics.
Those young men and women who competed and won the gold.
Probably the most well known was Nadia Comaneci who won the gold in gymnastics in 1976 at the age of 14. She was also the first Olympian ever to score a perfect 10.
Tara Lipinski also took the gold for figure skating in 1998
at the age of 15.
In swimming Krisztina Egerszegi at the age of 14,
won the gold in 1988.

The youngest woman ever to win a gold was Marjorie Gestring when she was 13, for diving in 1936.
The youngest man ever to win a gold was Klaus Zerta in rowing in 1960, also at the age of 13.
You can read about Bob Matthias who brought home the gold for the decathlon at 17 in 1948.
Finally there was Kusuo Kitamura ,who at 14 won the gold for swimming in 1932. Though probably not a complete list, all these children have left their young mark on history.
Who will the youngest be this time? That remains to be seen, my son and I will be watching. He loves to watch gymnastics (thanks to Sporticus on LazyTown).
Do you have a future Olympian in your house?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh how i wish, lol. i keep encouraging my son to try sports, but he just doesn't have interest.

happy sunday!

Linda S said...

Little One would love to be on the Equestrian Team level of riding...as a rising sophomore, she is already looking at colleges and their riding teams. They should all have their dreams!

Holly said...

When I was pregnant, I fantasized about the belly bean becoming an Olympic swimmer. Weird, I know....

Related Posts with Thumbnails