Equestrian to Aquatics: The Oldest and Youngest Team USA Athletes

No country for old men? American Steffen Peters, a 59-year-old Olympian in equestrian, would beg to differ.

Peters is Team USA’s oldest athlete competing at the Paris Olympics. This is his sixth Games, and he is a three-time medalist, winning his first bronze back in 1996 in Atlanta.

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His age is not an outlier within his sport, however—equestrian Laura Kraut, also representing the United States in Paris, is just a year younger at 58. The average age of American equestrians in Paris is 44.8 years—the gap between equestrian and the second-oldest sport, sailing (31.1), is larger than the gap between sailing and the very youngest sport, marathon swimming (21).

Other sports where U.S. athletes with a little more experience are thriving include volleyball (30.4), triathlon (29.6) and, somewhat surprisingly, basketball (29.9). American flag-bearer LeBron James, 20 years after his first Olympic appearance, is still one of the best players on the planet at age 39. He is joined on Team USA by 36-year-old Stephen Curry and 35-year-old Kevin Durant. For the women, 42-year-old Diana Taurasi is going for her sixth gold medal.

On the flip side, all disciplines of aquatics benefit the youth, whether it’s marathon swimming, artistic swimming (21.4), swimming (22.9) or diving (24.7). Also near the bottom are a pair of sports added at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021: skateboarding (21.4) and sport climbing (21.8). Part of the reasoning behind the addition of several new sports in Tokyo was to appeal to a younger audience, and attracting younger athletes furthers that goal.

American soccer players (24.6) are younger than those in most other team sports. That is largely due to Olympic men’s soccer being designated as a U-23 competition, meaning that players must be 23 years old or younger, with only three exceptions allowed.

Gymnastics (22.3) is also one of the youngest sports, but it’s worth noting this year’s women’s gymnastics team is the oldest group since 1952. That’s even with 16-year-old Hezly Rivera, the youngest individual representing the United States in Paris, on this year’s squad—and she already won gold as part of the team all-around competition. Pretty good for someone still in high school.

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