Pele, Tyson, Rooney… Littler? Ranking the best teenage sports stars ever
Luke Littler has taken the world by storm with his incredible run at the World Darts Championship.
Barry Hearn has said the 16-year-old is darts’ equivalent of Tiger Woods – but does he rank in our top teenage talents of all time?
Here’s our top 10 – do you agree? Have your say in the comments section below.
10. Wayne Rooney
Was already well-known inside football but, rather like Luke Littler, announced himself to a wider public aged 16 in spectacular style with a winning goal for Everton against Arsenal.
ON THIS DAY: October 19, 2002
16-yo Wayne Rooney scored his first #PL goal, a last-minute winner to end Arsenal's 30-game unbeaten run #EFC pic.twitter.com/sfSX7G011A— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) October 19, 2016
9. Tiger Woods
Woods was 21 when he so memorably became the youngest winner of the US Masters at Augusta but was a child prodigy long before, becoming the youngest ever US Amateur champion in 1994 at the age of just 18.
8. Katie Ledecky
Arguably the greatest female swimmer of all-time had already collected five Olympic titles and nine world titles before she turned 20.
7. Boris Becker
Michael Chang actually narrowly beat Becker’s record as the youngest men’s grand slam champion at the French Open but Becker’s triumph aged 17 was still the most remarkable given the serve-volley power then required to win the most prestigious tournament of them all at Wimbledon.
6. Ronnie O’Sullivan
It is difficult to know which was O’Sullivan’s most remarkable feat – becoming the oldest winner of a major title last month – or when he set a record that still stands exactly 30 years ago as the youngest champion aged just 17.
𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 ⏩ 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯
Ronnie O'Sullivan's first and latest UK Championship titles, 30 years apart 🤯 pic.twitter.com/yaiNZwNXq6— Eurosport (@eurosport) December 4, 2023
5. Martina Hingis
The youngest tennis grand slam champion at the age of 16, but the most remarkable element was how she almost completed an entire clean sweep of major titles at the age of 16 in 1997, only losing in the final of the French Open to Iva Majoli.
4. Nadia Comaneci
You could fill this list with gymnasts due to the relatively early age at which they emerge but Comaneci – a triple Olympic champion aged only 14 in 1976 with routines that included a perfect 10 – was perhaps the most iconic.
During the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, Nadia Comaneci, a Romanian gymnast, etched her name in history by achieving the first-ever perfect 10.0 score in gymnastics. Her flawless execution on the uneven bars was a pioneering milestone, leading her to attain seven perfect 10s… pic.twitter.com/Yx76rlxQhG
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) November 14, 2023
3. Mike Tyson
Had to wait until shortly after his 20th birthday to become the youngest-ever world heavyweight champion but he had already terrorised the division by then and no-one has come close to beating that record.
2. Jennifer Capriati
Just 13 when she made her professional tennis debut and then only 14 when she reached the semi-finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon. Capriati would have to wait another decade, however, to finally win a Grand Slam when she triumphed at the Australian Open in 2001 as a 23-year-old veteran.
1. Pele
A year on from his death and the appreciation of Pele’s peerless feats continue to reverberate around the world. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games remains an all-time record, as does his status as the only three-time World Cup winner.
The most extraordinary accomplishment of all, however, was surely achieved in 1958 at the age of 17 when he inspired Brazil to the first of five World Cup triumphs. The teenage Pele scored a hat-trick in the semi-final win against France before following that up with two goals in the final.