Tokyo Olympics 2021: Mary Fowler, Riley Day among Aussie young guns ready to make mark at Paris 2024
They are the cool kids, teenagers and rising stars who are driving an Australian youth revolution in sport. And if you thought Tokyo was impressive, just wait for three years time.
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They are the cool kids, teenagers and rising stars who are driving an Australian youth revolution in sport.
The young guns ready to make a splash, waves and, in some cases, radical moves, in the chase for Paris gold.
Youngsters with their own language and particular set of skills.
All made their debut at the Tokyo Olympics and will benefit from the experience.
And while some claimed gold in Japan, others learned exactly what they will need to do to make that happen in three years time.
RILEY DAY, 21: Athletics
It’s a name we expect to be hearing more about in coming years.
This Australian sprinter smashed her personal best time in the semi-final of the 200m but just missed a spot in the final.
Her mark of 22.56 seconds indicates she’s a bona fide star of the future for Australia.
She also proved a crowd favourite when her backstory of working in a supermarket and being without a sponsor came to light.
CASSIEL ROUSSEAU, 21, Diving
Australia has a great history in diving and Rousseau could be the one to continue this in upcoming Olympics after making quite a splash in Tokyo.
A recent recruit to the sport after making his name in acrobatic gymnastics, the Queenslander impressed from the start Tokyo by qualifying for the semi-finals of the 10m platform.
The 20-year-old’s grandfather was a track cyclist for Australia who won four gold medals in 1956 at the Melbourne Olympics.
TILLY KEARNS, 20, Water polo
Kearns is the daughter of former Wallaby Phil Kearns and made her debut in Tokyo.
She is young to be playing at an Olympics and could well be one of the Australians competing in Brisbane when they host in 2032.
Strong, agile and athletic, she is already making waves in her sport.
AMY LAWTON, 19, Hockey
Lawton and her teammates bowed out of Tokyo earlier than they had hoped for.
The Hockeyroos failed to advance out of the quarter-finals when beaten 1-0 by India in Tokyo.
But the future looks bright and midfielder Lawton is sure to play a big part.
When she took to the pitch in her first game, Lawton was the fourth youngest Hockeyroo to play at an Olympic Games.
DIETRICH ROACHE, 20, Rugby Sevens
The story of how this 20-year-old got to his first Olympics “freaks” his teammates out.
He hasn’t been toiling for years in the sport. In fact he only started playing a few years ago after falling in love with Rugby Sevens while watching a tournament from the grandstand in Sydney.
A speedster and creative player, he was the youngest member of the Rugby Sevens side.
The Australian sevens team didn’t have the Olympics they wanted, losing 19-0 to Fiji in the quarter-finals.
It will be men like Roach who will be part of their rebuilding and mission for a medal in Paris.
TOM GREEN and JEAN VAN DER WESTHUYZEN, 22, canoe sprint
These best mates are young for sprint canoeing ,which has a reputation for athlete longevity.
Without any previous international experience in the K2 together, the Gold Coast duo caused quite a stir with their surprise gold.
It bodes well for Paris with both paddlers aiming at the K1 where they will be rivals, then K2 as teammates.
Their age suggests they could well be around for another one or two Olympics after Paris as well.
KIERAN WOOLLEY, 17, skateboarding park
This engaging youngster showed the world he has the moves to be among the medals in Paris - and the personality to make him a star outside the park.
Woolley crashed in spectacular style in Tokyo, ploughing into a camera man filming his event and then offering him a fist bump.
Woolley made it into the final to eventually finish fifth and was the third youngest on the Australian Olympic team behind 17-year-old swimmers Isaac Cooper and Mollie O’Callaghan.
ELLIE BEER, 18, athletics
This rising star of running from the Ignition Athletics Club found out about her Olympic selection while working in a takeaway food shop.
The teenager gained crucial Olympic experience as the baby of the Australian track and field team and ran the 4x400m relay in Tokyo with Bendere Oboya, Angie Blackburn, Kendra Hubbard and Annelise Rubie-Renshaw.
Her age on debut indicates she could have a long stretch representing Australia, with Paris a major target.
MARY FOWLER 18, Football
The Matildas are renowned for producing young talent they like to blood on the world stage as teenagers.
Ellie Carpenter played in Rio as a 16-year-old and returned in Tokyo to run onto the pitch shoulder to shoulder with our newest teen gun - Mary Fowler.
Fowler, who plays for French team Montpellier, has been creating a stir in football circles for years and scored her first international goal for Australia just before arriving in Tokyo.
Fowler was instrumental in securing the Matildas a spot in the semi-final with a crunch goal against Great Britain.
KEEGAN PALMER, 18, skateboarding
This high-flying teenager has already won a gold, one of an elite club of athletes who have become an Olympic champion on debut.
The US-based youngster, with some of the biggest airs in the game, won gold in the skateboarding park event with a show of composure older athletes would envy.
Palmer was only rated an outside chance of winning a medal in Tokyo, but his performance in the final saw him become the third youngest Australian behind Kyle Chalmers and Ian Thorpe to win gold this century.
“Dude, I have a gold medal round my neck,” he said after his win.
TIA HINDS, 19, Rugby Sevens
A star of the future and another daughter of a sporting gun - her mother played touch football for Australia - this young Sydney speedster is heading for a bright career in the sport.
Just 19, the athletic Hinds was the youngest member of the Australian Sevens team but turned heads with her speed and creativity. She is also a member of the renowned Randwick rugby club in Sydney.
SAYA SAKAKIBARA, 21, BMX
We all held our breath watching this 21-year-old from the Gold Coast in BMX Supercross in Tokyo, but it was for the wrong reason.
Had she not crashed out in the semi-finals of the BMX racing, Sakakibara could well have won a medal.
The 21-year-old impressed with her fast starts and precision on the bike in her first Olympics.
Having her dream cut short will only fuel her ahead of Paris.
MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN, 17, Swimming
She stole our hearts with her determination and the future certainly looks bright for the ‘baby’ of the best team in Tokyo.
Surrounded by greatness in Japan, Callander showed she is more than capable of carrying on the legacy of her superstar teammates, winning gold medals as a member of the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley teams and a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle.
And while she is now a rising star of the pool, swimming was not her first love. Thankfully that changed in her early teens when she started showing extraordinary promise.
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