自古英雄出少年

張自林

“自古英雄出少年”，在奧運的歷史長河中，這句中國古語更是體現得淋漓盡致。少年英雄在奧運場上燃燒青春的激情，奮力拼搏，創造出一項又一項的驚人佳績，在奧運史上留下了濃重的一筆。讓我們一起來回顧那些最年輕奧運冠軍的風采吧。

Marjorie Gestring—the youngest Olympic gold medalist

At age 13, Marjorie Gestring was our youngest Olympic gold medal winner ever in springboard diving at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. No one, except maybe Adolph Hitler who watched her win, could predict it would be her last. World War II robbed Gestring of her shots at the 1940 and 1944 Olympic titles. At age 26, her Olympic comeback try in 1948 fell short.

Bob Mathias—the youngest athlete in Olympic history to win a mens athletics event

17-year-old American Bob Mathias won the decathlon only four months after taking up the sport. He is the youngest athlete in Olympic history to win a mens athletics event. By the time Mathias retired from decathlon competition in 1952, he had nine victories in nine competitions, four United States championships, three world records and two Olympic gold medals, all before he was 22.

Dmitry Nelyubin—the youngest Olympic champion among male cyclists.

Olympic cycling champion Dmitry Nelyubin died in the very beginning of the new year，in St.Petersburg. The 33-year-old athlete was killed on New Years night. Nelyubin was the youngest Olympic champion among male cyclists. He clutched his gold medal in Seoul at the age of 17.

Dmitry Nelyubin became the Olympic champion in 1988. He also became the world champion and won many other titles afterwards. The athlete finished his cycling career seven years ago at the age of 26.

Fu Mingxia—the youngest Olympic diving champion

Fu Mingxia became the youngest Olympic champion at the age of 14. Her success became a cover story in “Time” magazine titled “Olympic Height—Chinas gold medallist Fu Mingxia.” Four years later, in Atlanta, she went on to do well again, winning the womens platform and springboard diving competitions.

Gezahegne—the youngest Olympic marathon champion

Gezahegne is known as the youngest Olympic marathon champion ever, after winning the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sidney, Australia. But he has also won the London Marathon (2003), where he ran a 2:07:56, the Fukuoka Marathon (2002, 2001 and 1999), and the World Championship Marathon (2001). Gezahegne also finished second in the Boston Marathon in 2000.

Lipinski—the youngest Olympic figure skating champion

Lipinski became the youngest-ever womens Olympic champion at 15 years and eight months — two months younger than Sonja Henie of Norway when she won the womens title at the 1928 Winter Games in St. Moritz.

馬喬里·謝絲特琳——最年輕的奧運金牌得主。

馬喬里·謝絲特琳在1936年的柏林奧運會上奪得女子3米彈板跳水冠軍，當時她只有13歲，成為最年輕的奧運金牌得主。除了看到她取勝的阿道夫·希特勒外，沒有人能預見到這會是她的最后一次。二戰剝奪了她參與1940年和1944年奧運會的機會。26歲時，她重返1948年奧運會的嘗試失敗。

鮑勃·麥西亞—— 奧運史上贏得男子田徑賽冠軍最年輕的運動員。

17歲的美國人鮑勃·麥西亞在從事十項全能運動僅僅四個月后就贏得了該項比賽的冠軍。他是男子田徑運動賽事上最為年輕的奧運冠軍。1952年麥西亞從十項全能比賽中退役時，他已在9場比賽中獲得過9次勝利，其中4次美國錦標賽冠軍，三次世界冠軍，還有兩塊奧運金牌，而這一切輝煌都是在他22歲前取得的。

特米特里·內利厄賓——奧運史上最年輕的男子賽車冠軍

奧運賽車冠軍特米特里·內利厄賓在新年伊始逝去，33歲的他在新年的夜晚被害于圣彼得堡。內利厄賓是奧運史上最年輕的男子賽車冠軍，他17歲時在漢城奧運會上一舉奪金。

特米特里·內利厄賓在1988成為奧運冠軍。之后他也奪得多次世界冠軍，并贏得過其他榮譽。26歲時，他結束了自己的賽車生涯。

伏明霞——最年輕的奧運跳水冠軍。

伏明霞14歲就成為最年輕的奧運跳水冠軍。她的成功還上了《時代》雜志的封面故事，名為“奧運高度——中國的金牌得主伏明霞”。 四年后，在亞特蘭大，她風采依舊，贏得了女子跳臺跳水和彈板跳水比賽。

蓋察黑格內——最年輕的奧運馬拉松冠軍

蓋察黑格內是眾所周知的最年輕的馬拉松冠軍，他贏得了2000年澳大利亞悉尼奧運會的馬拉松比賽冠軍。但他也贏過2003年倫敦馬拉松比賽，這場比賽中他跑了2:07:56的成績，還有福岡馬拉松比賽 (2002, 2001和1999年)和世界馬拉松錦標賽(2001).蓋察黑格內也在2000年的波士頓馬拉松比賽中獲得了第二名的成績。

利平斯基——最年輕的奧運花樣滑冰冠軍

利平斯基成為奧運有史以來最年輕的女子花樣滑冰冠軍，那時她才15歲零8個月，比在1928年圣莫里茨冬奧會上女子花樣滑冰項目上奪冠的挪威選手松亞·黑妮埃還小兩個月 。