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Jordan Spieth became the second youngest golfer to win a Masters title, when he clinched the Augusta Masters on the 12thof April this year. Sport is replete with the stories of precocious athletes such as Spieth.Such athletes, who forsook the joys of young age in order to pursue their dream with steadfastness, have added to the glory of sport and its history is that much more glorious owing to their presence.Let us now take a look at ten young champions in the history of sport.
#1 Martina Hingis (15 years, 9 months and 7 days)
At Wimbledon in 1996, Martina Hingis, paired up with Helena Sukova of Czech Republic, scripted a new page in the annals of tennis history. Aged 15 years, nine months and seven days, the Swiss had become the youngest ever champion of a Grand Slam event.
Three years prior to her awe-inspiring win at Wimbledon, Hingis had already secured her name in the record books, by becoming the youngest player to win a junior Grand Slam title. She accomplished this feat when she won the French Open junior title in 1993, at the tender age of 12, overcoming a 17-year old Laurence Courtois in the final.
Following her victory in the doubles’ event at Wimbledon, Hingis set her sights upon glory in the singles’ circuit and went on to script a series of ‘youngest ever’ records. 1997 was a watershed year for Hingis. At the Australian Open that year, she became the youngest singles’ Grand Slam Champion in the 20th century, winning the crown aged 16 years, three months and 26 days. In March that year, she would go on to become the youngest World Number one in tennis history before becoming the youngest singles’ Wimbledon champion since Lottie Dod in 1887.
In all, Martina Hingis won five singles’ Grand Slam titles. Although she failed to win the French Open singles’ title, she won the doubles crown at the event twice. After having made the world gasp at her accomplishments as a teenager in the mid-1990s, Hingis called time on her career unexpectedly in 2003, aged just 22.
She has since gone on to make two comebacks to active tennis. She returned for the first time in 2005 before eventually announcing her retirement for the second time in 2007. She then came back in 2010 and has enjoyed a great deal of success on the doubles’ circuit since.
#2 Pele (17 years, 8 months and 6 days)
It has been nearly four decades since Pele stopped playing professional football, but the Brazilian’s stature as the greatest footballer ever remains undisputed. If there is any marker in football history, it would have to be Pele.
The history of Brazilian football and the World Cups would have been much different had his teammates not persisted in ensuring that the then 17-year old Pele be selected despite a knee injury. Having been chosen to represent his country in the World Cup, Pele toppled record after record as he guided his team to its first ever World Cup win in Sweden.
Against Wales in the quarter-finals, Pele went on to become the youngest goal scorer in the World Cup finals before going on to score a hat-trick in the semi-final against France. By the time Brazil reached the final, the team, despite boasting stalwarts such as Garrincha and Vava, had become synonymous with Pele.
In the final, the expectations riding on the young shoulders of Pele was enormous. But, the legend showed no signs of pressure as he starred in Brazil’s thumping 5-2 win against Sweden in the final. Pele scored two goals in the final.
At 17 years, eight months and six days, Pele became, and remains, the youngest ever player to have won the Football World Cup.
#3 Tiger Woods (21 years, 3 months and 14 days)
Widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers ever, Tiger Woods stormed into the professional golf circuit as a 21-year old in 1996, following a highly fruitful amateur career.
Woods enjoyed almost instant success on the professional tour. He was named the ‘PGA Tour Rookie of the Year’ for 1996 and was also named ‘Sportsman of the Year’ by Sports Illustrated. However, despite the many successes that he enjoyed in ‘96, victory at the Majors eluded him.
In 1997, Woods set about making amends. In April that year, Woods went on to win The Masters tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, becoming the youngest player to win a Major event.
Woods has since gone on to add 13 more Major titles to his name. His record of 79 titles on the PGA tour is second only to Sam Snead, who won 82.
#4 Sebastian Vettel (23 years, 4 months and 11 days)
In 2009, Sebastian Vettel replaced veteran David Coulthard on the Red Bull team. In 2008, as a 21-year-old, the German had scripted a historic win at the Italian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver to win a race.
Vettel won four races in his first year with Red Bull and finished second on the drivers’ standings, 11 points short of the year’s champion, Jenson Button. The German was clearly not prepared to settle for the second spot and came into 2010 with renewed determination and vigour.
Heading into the last race of the 2010 season at Abu Dhabi, Vettel was 15 points shy of championship leader Fernando Alonso and seven points behind Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Alonso finished the race in sixth position and Webber finished eighth, thereby posing no viable threat to the German ace. Vettel went on to win the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to surpass Lewis Hamilton as the youngest F1 champion ever.
2010 marked the beginning of Vettel’s domination in Formula One as he went on to win the championship for the next three years (2011-13).
#5 Boris Becker (17 years, 7 months and 15 days)
Ebullient, sprightly and unbelievably agile, it took Boris Becker little time to swarm into the hearts of tennis fans at Wimbledon in 1985. Excitement became a palpable and an almost physical entity when Becker played and his natural dynamic streak only served to turn the atmosphere even more electric.
Becker’s game was revolved around a pacy serve and a highly effective game at the net. His bustling approach to the net made for exciting viewing apart from making him one of the best volley players at the net. In ‘85, Becker was ranked 20th in the world but wasn’t given a seed since Wimbledon rewarded only seeds at that point in time.
En route to the final, Becker had taken out sixteenth seed Tim Mayotte and seventh seed Joakim Nystrom. Eighth-seeded Kevin Curren, who had ousted defending champion John McEnroe in the quarter-final of the event and was clearly the favourite heading into the final.
But, Becker, it seemed had made a pact with glory on the seventh of July, 1985. Despite dropping a closely contested second set that went down to the tie-break, Becker dominated the proceedings in the final right from the outset and closed out the match, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. Becker became the first unseeded and the first German to win the Wimbledon in the tournament’s 100 year history. It goes without being said that he was also the tournament’s youngest champion ever.
Boris Becker finished his career with six Grand Slam singles’ titles, which included three Wimbledon titles (1985, ‘86 and ‘89).
#6 Aaqib Javed (19 years, 7 months and 20 days)
Along with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed formed what was, inarguably the most feared bowling triumvirate in the 1990s. Although overshadowed for practically his entire career by his two more illustrious teammates, Javed was, nevertheless, an extremely talented bowler who had mastered both conventional and reverse swing.
More effective in one day internationals than in the longer formats, Javed was one of Imran Khans key weapons in the 1992 World Cup. With Waqar Younis being ruled out of the tournament owing to an injury, Javed had to take on the responsibility of sharing the new ball with Akram. There were many who were sceptical of Javeds abilities. However, the crafty Javed, combining pace and swing, ensured that Pakistan did not feel Youniss absence.
In the final at Melbourne on 25thMarch, 1992, Javed accounted for wicketkeeper-batsman Alec Stewart and Neil Fairbrother, when the latter was sailing strong on 62 and looked set to guide England home. Although, it is Akrams dramatic turn with the cherry, his dismissals of Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis of successive deliveries that remains the most cherished moment of that final, Javeds contribution hasnt been all together forgotten.
At 19 years, Javed went on to become the youngest cricketer to win the World Cup. While he scalped just 54 wickets at an average of 34.7 in the 22 Tests that he played, his record in ODIs was much more respectable. In 163 ODIs, he snaffled 182 wickets at an average of 31.43.
#7 Barbara Jones (15 years and 4 months)
Rivalry between the United States of America and what was then Soviet Russia wasn’t limited to the arms race. The rivalry had extended to the arena of sports and at the biggest stage for sport, the Olympics, the competition between the two nations took on a new hue all together. In the 1952 Summer Olympics conducted at Helsinki, America won 76 medals in comparison to USSR’s 71. America’s brilliant performance in track and field events played a massive role in helping it amass such a rich haul.
Barbara Jones was one of those track athletes. Part of the 4X100m relay women’s team, she was a mere 15 years old heading into the Olympics. But, her performance belied her age and experience. Along with her teammates, Mae Faggs, Jaet Moreau and Catherine Hardy, Jones went on to win the Gold in the 4X100m relay event on the 27th of July, 1952, becoming the youngest medallist in a track and field Olympic event.
Jones went on to win the Gold, participating in the same event at the Rome Olympics in 1960.
#8 Ronnie O\'Sullivan (17 years, 11 months and 23 days)
Hailed by former World Champion Dennis Taylor as the most naturally gifted snooker player ever, Ronnie O’Sullivan is widely regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time.
A child prodigy, Sullivan was just ten years old when he made his first century break and 15 at the time of his maximum break. Sullivan holds the record for being the youngest player to win a professional ranking tournament, a feat he in 1993. He also went on to become the youngest player to win a Masters event in 1995, aged 19.
Sullivan has won the snooker World Championship five times and has also won ten premier league titles.
#9 Marjorie Gestring (13 years, 8 months and 24 days)
It is hard not to be overwhelmed by a sense of wonder when one skims through the records of Marjorie Gersting. At 13, when her peers were busy poring their heads over textbooks, Gersting was busy upsetting top-ranked divers and winning Olympic medals.
After having come second to Katherine Rawls in the tryouts for the American diving team, Gestring qualified for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In the final of the springbaord event, she caused a massive upset when she beat Rawls to clinch the Gold. In fact, upon witnesseing her naer perfect dive, Rawls, in a gallant display of sportsmanship, went out and congratulated her even before the results were officially announced. Gersting was a mere 13 and she had an Olympic medal.
Gersting remains the youngest athlete ever to have won an Olympic Gold medal. Her promising career was rudely interrupted by the Second World War. Her planned return to the Olympic foldin 1948 turned out bdly when she failed to make the cut for the American diving team. However, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
#10 Ian Thorpe (15 years, 3 months and 2 days)
The son of a talented domestic cricketer, Ian Thorpe however did not inherit his father’s affinity for cricket or any other ball sport, for that matter. Introduced to swimming by his sister, Thorpe, as it turns out, was allergic to chlorine. In order to overcome the problem, Thorpe kept his head out of the water while swimming. Although he managed to overcome this affliction later in his life, he negotiated this drawback using his size advantage.
By the time Thorpe was 14, he was a part of the Australian national swimming team, the youngest male ever to be a member of the contingent. Later that year, he went on to become the youngest medallist at the Pan-Pacific championship, winning the silver in the 4X200m freestyle relay and the 200m freestyle events.
But, it was at the 1998 World Championships at Perth that he went on become the cynosure of the entire swimming community. Aged all of 15 years, Thorpe’s biggest rival was his compatriot Grant Hackett, who was two years older than he. Hackett had also gotten the better of Thorpe in the national events.
But, Thorpe bucked the trend when he beat Hackett in the 400m frestyle event to emerge as the youngest swimming champion ever. The time that Thorpe set in the course of his historic win was the fourth fastest ever.
The Gold at the Perth World Championships in 1998 was merely the beginning of Thorpe’s monumental career. The Australian went on to win nine Olympic medals, including five Gold medals.
