In Light of 12-Year-Old Yu Zidi Competing at World Champs, World Aquatics to Evaluate Age-Limit Rules
In light of the participation of 12-year-old Chinese standout Yu Zidi at the World Championships in Singapore, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki indicated that the governing body will have to evaluate its age-limit guidelines for global competition.
World Aquatics’ current rules require an athlete to be 14 years old to compete at a global championship, albeit with a caveat. If a swimmer can meet the A qualification standard in an event, he/she will be granted access to the competition. That loophole is how Yu earned an invitation to the World Championships.
Yu has been impressive at the World Champs, finishing just off the podium in a pair of events. She was fourth in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the butterfly, and still has the 400 IM on the final day of the meet. Yu won a bronze medal in the 800 freestyle relay, where China was third.
Yu wasn’t on the squad that competed in the final, but handled the leadoff leg during prelims, which earned her a medal. That piece of hardware made Yu the youngest swimmer to win a medal at a global championship meet since the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, where Denmark’s Inge Sorensen earned the bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke less than a month after turning 12 years old
“I didn’t think I’d have this conversation, but now I think we have to go back and say, ‘Is this appropriate?’” Nowicki said in Singapore. “Is this really the right way to go forward and do we need to do other things? Put other guardrails up? Do we allow it under certain conditions? I don’t know the answer.”
Why? This is such an unusual circumstance, which is unlikely to occur again anytime soon. Far bigger problems in swimming than this.