Gaurika Singh of Nepal, is the youngest athlete of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Thirteen year-old Singh raced in the 100-meter backstroke alongside some of the greatest athletes in the world. While Singh is the youngest athlete to compete this year, she is not the youngest athlete to ever compete in the long history of the Olympic games.

In 1896, the first year of the modern Olympics, Dimitrios Loundras,10, competed in the summer Olympics in Athens and won a bronze medal alongside his fellow gymnasts. Since that time he has kept the title of the youngest Olympian. Many world class athletes face Olympic competition before graduating high school. Laurie Hernandez, age 16, is successful gymnast competing for the team USA at this year’s Olympics. She recently won a gold medal along with the rest of her four teammates. When it comes to her education, she has been home-schooled since third grade. This decision was made in order to conform to her very busy training schedule.

Many student athletes in high school might feel the pressure of a big game or match. MCHS student Jobe Miller, age 15, was asked if he ever felt pressured when playing an important soccer game. “Well, sometimes, but then sometimes it’s pretty chill.” We asked him also if he would perform as well, especially if the whole world were watching him. Jobe, with a shrug muttered “No, because I stink at pressure. I don’t know. I would be kind of freaked out.”

Addy Hill, an MCHS sophomore and volleyball player told us her playing was best under the most harsh pressure. “ At Lawrenceburg last year [The team’s biggest competitor] I went in and didn’t make one mistake and I was like, heck yeah!

Hill said she would love the opportunity to compete in the Olympics someday. Miller looked away and muttered a no thanks.

These days, many schools are offering not only higher grading scales and more advanced technology for classrooms, they are also taking a higher and far more competitive push in athletics. Colleges are on the hunt 24/7 for the most talented students that they can find with not only talent but dedication. Schools desire the skill of keeping up a certain grade point average and potential to perform well under pressure.

Many parents have been finding the whole process of their child being a serious athlete overwhelming but also rewarding. Colleges are offering full rides for those who are reaching to work for the one in the million chance of success, the age of beginners in sports once ranging from early teens declining to now early childhood.

The Olympics are discovering fresh talent with some participants being at a very young age. The opportunity to represent an approaching generation and their own country is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so with focus, many general lifestyle things such as the normal school day and free time are sacrificed to reach for the gold.