Tokyo Olympics: Australian teens Mary Fowler, Kieran Woolley, Josh Green, Tia Hinds turns heads

They are our Generation Next - young guns in or just out of their teens heading to the Tokyo Olympics. Meet the stars and standouts of this youth sport revolution.

Andrew Hoy is heading to a record eighth Olympic but there are an incredible 295 young Australians making their Games debut in the strangest ever Olympics.

And in this number are some of the most talented and engaging teenagers in world sport.

The Olympic arena has long been a launching pad for success with Penrith’s whitewater guru Jessica Fox making her Olympic debut as a teen and now chasing a pair of gold medals.

Central Coast footballer Ellie Carpenter was only 16 when she played for the Matildas in Rio and is now an established member of an Australian women’s football team chasing a medal in Japan.

Here we look at some of the young guns hoping to fire on the biggest sporting stage in the world.

Australia's Mary Fowler scored in the June match against Denmark.

MARY FOWLER, 18, MATILDAS FOOTBALL

Just 18, but there will be an avalanche of interest in this footballer from Bankstown in Sydney’s west.

She’s an extraordinary athlete already playing alongside some of the biggest football names in the world, including Sam Kerr, Kyah Simon, Caitlin Foord and Alanna Kennedy.

Fowler, who plays for Montpellier in France, will be the youngest member of the Matildas in Tokyo and scored her debut international goal for Australia against Denmark in June.

Mary’s sister Ciara Fowler is also a talented footballer.

“As a kid it’s the one dream I had in sport so it feels amazing,” Fowler said of her Olympic selection.

The young footballer admitted she was quite emotional when she heard the news she was to be at the Games.

“When I was told and handed the piece of paper saying I’m going, everything just clicked and I was like, well, this is really happening, then I just started tearing up,” she said.

Tia Hinds all smiles when she was confirmed on the Australian women’s Rugby Sevens team.

TIA HINDS, 19, RUGBY SEVENS

A teen sensation picked for the Australians Sevens rugby team with an eye to the future.

Haynes was one of those kids who was just good at about every sport she put her mind to.

This 19-year-old speedster played touch football from an early age, tackled Aussie rules with the Maroubra Saints when she was nine and was also a member of the Maroubra Magic Rugby Sevens side.

She also played rugby league, hitting the field for the Cronulla Sharks in the Tarsha Gale competition.

It’s not a great surprise she is so talented with mum Janine a touch footballer for Australia.

Hinds played for Sydney University in the recent AON sevens series and hails from the renown Randwick rugby club.

Skateboarding is primed for a big debut in Tokyo.

KIERAN WOOLLEY, SKATEBOARDING PARK

Competing in the new skateboarding park event and hails from the Illawarra.

At 17 he is the youngest NSW male athlete heading to the Tokyo Olympics for Australia.

He is the third youngest on the Australian Olympic team behind 17-year-old swimmers Isaac Cooper and Mollie O’Callaghan.

While many might not know him yet, in his world he is already big news.

Kieran Woolley is one of the youngest athletes selected

A video of his tricks was viewed over one million times recently and he has been compared to skating legend Tony Hawk.

This teen hails from Minamurra and has been skating since he was just 10, quickly making a name for himself as one of the sports rising stars.

Sariah Paki being tackled by a Fijian opponent in a pre-Tokyo match earlier this year.

SARIAH PAKI, 19, RUGBY SEVENS

Has long been recognised as one of the next big things in Australian women’s rugby and inspired to play by the women who sensationally won in Rio where the sport debuted.

Paki, from Sydney’s northern beaches, proved she has the goods in pressure situations after becoming one of the youngest players to compete for Australia in the world Rugby Sevens tournament when just 17.

Sariah Paki fell is a former touch football player from Sydney’s northern beaches.

And at that event she was one of the best forwards.

“I wanted to be an Olympian ever since I saw the girls play in Rio,” Paki said.

“I couldn’t believe they were there, it was incredible.

“I was about 15. Look at me now. Who would believe it. Wow.”

Jayson Tatum from the US faces Josh Green in a lead-up game to Tokyo.

JOSH GREEN, BASKETBALL

He is one of seven debutants in the Boomers with Tokyo a big opportunity for this big young talent from Glenhaven in the Hills District of Sydney.

A talented shooting guard, Green is playing NBA with the Dallas Mavericks and was the No. 18 pick in the 2020 draft.

He is an important cog in the Boomers bid for a medal in Tokyo and the youngest member of a star-studded team considered a genuine chance of a medal in Japan.

Olympics rock climber Oceania Mackenzie and her scientists father Prof Jason Mackenzie.

OCEANIA MACKENZIE, 19, SPORT CLIMBING

Hails from Melbourne and about to make history as our first sport climber in the Olympic arena.

Mackenzie has been climbing since she was eight - making her a perfect candidate for one of the new sports debuting at the Tokyo Games.

She will be up against 20 other women in the event which involves three disciplines - speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing.

Amy Lawton playing in the Hockey One series before coronavirus.

AMY LAWTON, 19, HOCKEY

From Emerald in Victoria, this 19-year-old is the baby of the Hockeyroos and is being earmarked for great things.

Lawton is the fourth youngest Hockeyroo ever to play at an Olympic Games and is the daughter of two world class squash players.

A young midfielder, her rise has been quick with the teen considered one of the most talented youngsters in the world game.

Kendra Hubbard and youngster Ellie Beer at a pre-training camp in Cairns.

ELLIE BEER, 18, ATHLETICS

This Queenslander from Palm Beach found out about her Olympic selection while working in a takeaway food shop.

She will run in the 4x400m relay in Tokyo with Bendere Oboya, Angie Blackburn, Kendra Hubbard and Annelise Rubie-Renshaw.

Just a year out of school, she also competed at the 2019 world championships with the relay team chasing a spot in their final in Japan.

Sam Fricker takes a selfie with fellow divers Nikita Hains, Esther Qin, Cassiel Rousseau, Anabelle Smith, Shixin Li and Melissa Wu during the Australian Diving Tokyo Olympic Games team announcement.

SAM FRICKER, 19, DIVING

From Greenhills Beach in the Sutherland Shire, Fricker has long been identified as a star of the future.

Fricker tells a tale of getting into the sport because he was trying to impress a girl he had a crush on.

Raised at Merewether in Newcastle before relocating to Sydney’s south, Fricker showed attitude and flair for sport and success followed.

Sam Fricker is chasing a medal on the 10m platform. Pic: Richard Dobson

While in his teens, he will compete in the 10m platform event in Tokyo with his journey to be watched with interest by his 450,000 plus Tic Tok followers.

“Ever since I was a kid I can just remember having a dream of making the Olympic team,”

Fricker is also a keen entrepreneur with a line of environmentally friendly straws.

COURTNEY NEVINS, 19, FOOTBALL

Another teeenage member of a Matildas side which is clearly investing in a very bright future.

This 19-year-old honed her skills with the Blacktown Spartans and plays for the Western Sydney Wanderers in the W-League.

She was called into the Matildas back in 2019 and has been turning heads since.

Mollie O'Callaghan is leading a new wave of talent in the pool.

MOLLIE O’CALLAHAN, 17, SWIMMING

From Greenbank in Queensland, O’Callahan is in Tokyo doing a sport she didn’t like when she was a kid.

That changed in her teen when she started to show plenty of promise.is racing relay events in Tokyo.

Gazzard, second from left at the back, is on the Australian artistic swimming team.

KEIRA GAZZARD, 19, ARTISTIC SWIMMING

A young artistic swimmer from Randwick who is heading to her first Olympics as part of the Australian artistic swimming team.

At 19 she is one of the youngest in her squad and will compete in the teams event in Tokyo.

The goal of Gazzard and her teammates in Tokyo is to improve on their world No. 10 ranking and to win over new fans to the sport which was formerly know as synchronised swimming.

Gazzard with her teammate Aime Thompson, also from Sydney.

Despite being so young, Gazzard has already given up much for her sport, moving away from her home, family and friends in Sydney to train on the Gold Coast in the lead up to her selection.

“This is a lifetime dream of mine,’’ Gazzard said of her Olympic spot.

“I vividly remember watching the Beijing Olympics when I was seven and saying to my mum ‘I want to go to the Olympics. I’m so excited to be going.’’

Samu Kerevi, Tia Hinds, Henry Paterson, Maddison Levi and Dietrich Roache will all make their Olympic debut in Tokyo.

DIETRICH ROACHE, RUGBY SEVENS

Only just 20, this speedster form Merrylands in Sydney’s west, has pretty much come from no where to force his way onto the team playing in Tokyo.

He comes from great rugby heritage with his father Krueger a former Two Blues player and now coach of the Colts team at the western Sydney club.

Dietrich Roache and Sydney Thunder’s Chris Green.

But Roache didn’t have a lot of interest in sport until quite recently.

He originally played rugby league at his Fairfield school before trying his hand at rugby 15s with the Two Blues.

When he got into Rugby Sevens in 2018 he fell in love and just two years later was named in the Australian side for the world schools sevens tournament.

The rest is history.

Roach is one of 10 young players making their debut in the Olympic sevens side which also includes former Wallaby Samu Kerevi and speedster Maurice Longbottom from the Randwick rugby club.