Cote: Paris Olympics one for the ages as golden oldies Biles, Ledecky, James lead U.S. charge | Opinion

We are in the midst of a Paris Olympics that feels like one for the ages ... all ages.

One of the delights of watching these ongoing Summer Games is seeing some athletes not yet old enough to drive a car and others who qualify for senior discounts.

There is a 54-year age difference between the extremes in competitors in France.

The youngest was born during the 2012 London Olympics. That is not a misprint. Skateboarder Zheng Haohao of China is a girl 11 years and 11 months old.

Competing to her means “just to get together with my good friends,” Zheng told Reuters. “It’s like we are playing a fun game and everyone has to show the best they’ve got.”

From the same sport, Thailand’s flag-bearer in the Opening Ceremony was 12. This is only the second Olympics with skateboarding as an event, and teenagers (though not pre-teens) are fairly common mostly in this sport.

But tell that to Great Britain skateboarder Andy Macdonald. He’s 50.

The eldest Paris Olympian is 65-year-old Juan Antonio Jiminez Cobo of Spain, an equestrian. Sure, the horses do most of the work in that sport. Then again for most folks that age it might take a forklift to get up onto a horse, and a miracle to jump with it over fences, hedges and moats and come out alive.

The Olympics are all about gold and silver, but that can mean golden age and silver hair, too.

Chile’s Olympians include a 58-year-old in women’s table tennis. From the country of Georgia and the sport of shooting comes Nino Salukvadze, 55, the first woman to compete in 10 Olympics.

We see a great age disparity on Team USA as well, with athletes seen as old for their sport -- like LeBron James and Diana Taurasi in basketball, Simone Biles in gymnastics and Katie Ledecky in swimming -- leading a charge that has the U.S. leading these Olympics in overall medals into this weekend.

James is 39 and Taurasi 42, still excelling against players half their age. James seems an ageless wonder. Taurasi still excels as one of the most decorated athletes ever with five gold medals, three WNBA titles and three college national championships -- yet still heard some criticism whether she belonged on this U.S. team.

“Only a woman would have 20 years of experience and it’s an Achilles’ heel instead of something that is treasured and used as a way forward for our sport and for women.,” she snapped back. “So hopefully we can change that narrative. You dedicate your whole life and career to something and you get, ‘Why don’t you just retire?’ It’s so easy for a question to be brought up in a manner not meant to be disrespectful ... but if you’re the person being asked, it is a bit disrespectful.”

Shoutout, too, to U.S. women’s volleyball player Jordan Larson, 37, unexpectedly in her fourth Olympics. She got married and was in what she called “full retirement plan.” But the marriage didn’t work out and life and fate conspired to draw her back.

Even more remarkable, to me, are Biles and Ledecky, both 27, still proving to be gold-quality in sports where the athletes typically peak very early and are done way before now.

Biles is the elder on a gymnastics team averaging 22 years old, which for this sport is old. Consider that Mary Lou Retton won all-around Olympic gold in gymnastics in 1984 at age 16, and retired two years later.

“The Golden Girls,” Biles nicknamed her team.

Biles already had led the U.S. to gold in the team event in Paris and on Thursday won gold in individual all-around -- becoming the oldest Olympics women’s gymnastics champion since 1952. Her six golds and nine overall medals (and counting) in three Olympics are the most ever by an American gymnast.

She adopts a motherly role to Hezly Rivera, the youngest on her team at 16.

“Should we teach her how to drive before she gets to Paris?,” kidded Biles. “Like, jeez. She’s so young!”

Ledecky likewise takes on a mentor role for her youngest U.S. swimming teammate, Katie Grimes, 18.

“Katie Squared,” she calls the teen.

Ledecky, the greatest distance swimmer ever, won the 1,500-meter freestyle this week for her eighth Olympic gold and 12th medal overall -- the most ever by a female swimmer. She has zero thoughts of retiring and already is eyeing the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when she’d be 31.

“I really just take it year by year at this point,” she said after her latest gold. “But, yeah, I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet.”

Biles has more coy about her future. Cecile Landi, her coach, said after the women’s team won gold on Tuesday, “She wanted to rewrite her story, the end.” But Landi then added, ”Well, that’s what she says now.” So ... maybe not the end?

In any case, from an 11-year-old girl on a skateboard to a 65-year-old man on a horse to all in between, there are no age limits on Olympic dreams.