Skateboarding age minimum set through 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Yahoo

09-04-2025

Skateboarders must be born in 2014 or earlier to be eligible for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under a new age minimum set by the World Skate federation.
Starting this year, an age minimum is being phased in for World Skateboarding Tour events. World Skate, the international governing body for the sport, confirmed that the age rules will also apply to the LA Games.
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Skateboarders must have been born in 2014 or earlier to compete in tour events in 2025. The age minimum will be raised one year each in 2026, 2027 and 2028 — which means that the birth year minimum of 2014 will remain the same through the LA Games.
Year
Minimum Age
Youngest Birthdate
2025
turning 11 in 2025
Dec. 31, 2014
2026
turning 12 in 2026
Dec. 31, 2014
2027
turning 13 in 2027
Dec. 31, 2014
2028 and onward
turning 14 in 2028
Dec. 31, 2014
The World Skate decision was made after "comprehensive consultations conducted as a part of the debriefing process" after the Paris Games.
"Supported throughout the debriefing with the largest collective consensus was the learning that the accelerating standard and corresponding challenges in Olympic skateboarding has necessitated the introduction of a minimum age limit," according to World Skate.
Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games. It was one of the many sports with no age minimum at both the Tokyo and Paris Games.
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In both Tokyo and Paris, the youngest medalists and gold medalists across all sports were female skateboarders.
In Tokyo, Kokona Hiraki took silver in the park event three weeks before her 13th birthday. She became the youngest Olympic medalist since 1936, according to the OlyMADMen.
Momiji Nishiya of Japan took gold in women's street in Tokyo, a month before her 14th birthday. She became the youngest Summer Olympic gold medalist since 1960, according to the OlyMADMen.
Had the new age rules been in place at those Games, Hiraki would not have been eligible while Nishiya would have made the age cutoff by four months.
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At the Paris Games, both women's skateboarding gold medalists were 14 years old -- Australian Arisa Trew in park and Japan's Coco Yoshizawa in street.
Zheng Haohao of China, who placed 18th out of 22 in the women's park event in Paris five days before turning 12, was the youngest Olympic competitor in any sport since 1992, according to the OlyMADMen.
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