Meet America's High Schoolers Vying for Olympic Gold

All eyes are on Paris, which is hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics for the first time in a century from July 24 to Aug. 11.

Among the athletes competing on Team USA this summer, several are still in high school making their mark in sports ranging from gymnastics to skateboarding. Many of these students are first time Olympians, who will be competing while also managing their class work and other academic responsibilities.

Young stars on Team USA, such as gymnast Hezly Rivera and sprinter Quincy Wilson, are already rising fan-favorites.

Meet six high schoolers we’re rooting for on Team USA. Let the games begin!

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PAIGE HEYN, 16

Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games and is returning this year in Paris.

All eyes will be on Tempe, Arizona’s Paige Heyn, one of the fastest rising women in the sport. Heyn is “almost single-handedly responsible for kickstarting that level of progression in women’s skateboarding,” John Nicholson, Heyn’s coach with USA Skateboarding, said. “It’s funny to be a pioneer at 16. In a matter of six months, she has directly influenced her competition.”

“I don’t really do normal 16-year-old stuff,” Heyn said.

Known as a switch skater, Heyn’s ability to skate with both her left and right foot forward has set her apart as she competes.

Heyn is a sophomore enrolled in the United States Performance Academy (USPA), an online middle and high school for young elite athletes. Despite constant travel and time zone changes, she prioritizes her academics, according to her USPA learning coach Blair Lunn.

“She is really enjoying her World History class,” Lunn told The 74. “She is also learning American Sign Language.”

CLAIRE WEINSTEIN, 17

Claire Weinstein became one of the youngest swimmers to qualify for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials at just 13 years old. Now at 17, she intends to keep making history.

With a lifelong record of straight A’s — which she’s recently demonstrated at the online Laurel Springs School — Weinstein’s teachers and trainers applaud her hard work, talent and focus.

“Claire absorbs information and training like a sponge,” Weinstein’s former full-time coach Carle Fierro told The 74. “She is efficient in quickly applying corrections to her technique, and is able to make connections in the water a lot of swimmers are unable to do.”

Fierro praised Weinstein for her remarkable sense of humor and hours of free time spent teaching young kids to swim. The teenager has committed to a decorative career as a top swimming recruit in her class at University of California-Berkeley.

She is interested in either studying law or medicine, Claire’s mother Diane Weinstein told The 74.

QUINCY WILSON, 16

16-year-old Quincy Wilson clinched a spot on the Team USA relay team, making history as the youngest-ever male U.S. track and field Olympian.

The upcoming junior is also an honor roll student at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland.

Wilson brings “absolute joy to the classroom through his excitement to learn something new” and a “positive, respectful, inquisitive nature to each subject, enhancing the learning of his classmates,” Bullis Head of Upper School Robert Pollinco said.

Wilson has received an array of prestigious honors at Bullis, including the Freshman Manuel José Baca, Jr. Joy of Living Award — and most recently, the Sophomore Head of Upper School Award earlier this spring.

When not on the track, Wilson enjoys playing video games like Fortnite and Call of Duty with his friends.

Pollinco said Wilson is seen as a “consummate scholar, leader, athlete, artist, explorer and most importantly, true friend at Bullis School.”

ALEX SHACKELL, 17

17-year-old Alex Shackell became the first female swimmer from Indiana’s renowned Carmel High School to make a U.S. Olympic team. Shackell recognizes she is a part of not only the standing history of Indiana sports, but the athletic legacy of her high school.

Carmel’s swimming program won its 38th consecutive state championship under coach Chris Plumb’s leadership, who believed Shackell’s best opportunity at becoming an Olympian was if she competed in the 200-meter butterfly — and that’s exactly what happened.

Shackell is a rising junior at Carmel, but has committed to swimming at University of California-Berkeley, where she will be a conference title contender. There, she will join her older brother Aaron Shackell, who’s also competing in his first Olympic games this year.

THOMAS HEILMAN, 17

Earlier this summer, 17-year-old Thomas Heilman became the youngest American male swimmer to qualify for an Olympics team since Michael Phelps.

However, Heilman dismisses comparisons to the Olympic champion, who has earned a total of 28 medals.

“It’s always great to be in the same conversation as [Phelps], but I’m trying not to worry about that too much and trying to take things day by day,” Heilman said during a press conference after earning his ticket to Paris.

Heilman, an upcoming senior at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet, Virginia, and one of the greatest high school swimming recruits of all time, has committed to the University of Virginia.

HEZLY RIVERA, 16

New Jersey native Hezly Rivera is the youngest person competing on Team USA’s roster.

After moving to Texas in 2021, Rivera began training at World Olympics Gymnastics Academy. There, she is coached directly by Valeri and Anna Liukin, the parents of Olympic champion Nastia Liukin. The gym has collectively earned 36 World and Olympic medals, having trained Olympians like Carly Patterson and Gabby Douglas.

While Rivera enjoys baking in her downtime (her favorite creations include red velvet and chocolate cakes), spending time with her dog and laying down to rest and recover from six days of training is just as rewarding.

Rivera attends Inspire Academy, an online school that allows her the flexibility to focus on training full time.