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Anna Hursey plans to add to the teenage triumphs of 2024 when she makes her Olympic Games debut in Paris on Saturday.
The 18-year-old will become the first Welsh athlete to compete in table tennis at an Olympics, although making history is nothing new to the veteran of two Commonwealth Games.
Hursey became Wales’ youngest senior international athlete in any sport at the age of 10 and was a climate change advisor to American president Joe Biden at 14.
“I’ve got used to having people watch me and being in the spotlight because I’ve had that for a long time now,” said Hursey, who joins Liam Pitchford – who is at his fourth Olympics – as the only two British table tennis players in Paris.
“The longer you are competing at a young age, the more it feels natural. I began when I was really young and managed to become one of the best under-12s in the world.
“I carried on through cadet and junior levels and now into the seniors.
“That experience – as well as going to two Commonwealth Games – has really helped me and I feel more excited about Paris than nervous.”
Hursey – who was born in Carmarthen to a Chinese mother and English father before growing up in Swansea and then Cardiff – spent three years honing her skills in China.
The longer you are competing at a young age, the more it feels natural— Anna Hursey
Her schedule in the city of Tianjin involved remote online schooling and 40 hours a week of intensive training sessions, but the discipline and routine proved invaluable.
After being part of the Wales squad for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia at the age of 11, she won a bronze medal in the women’s doubles at Birmingham 2022, as a 15-year-old alongside Charlotte Carey.
Now, she is intent on adding to the notable achievements of sporting teens in 2024, a year that has already produced a darts world championship runner-up at 16 in Luke Littler.
Spain winger Lamine Yamal took the football world by storm in becoming a European Championship winner – a tournament he began starring in before celebrating his 17th birthday on the eve of the final.
Rising 800 metres track star Phoebe Gill clinched her Olympic place by winning at the British Championships at the age of 17.
Hursey said: “I watched a bit of the football and I saw the young players for Spain and the impact they made. I think it’s exciting for a sport when you see young people succeeding.
“I think it has an influence on other young people who are watching. It can inspire them.
“That’s what I want to do in table tennis, get young people wanting to play the game and enjoy it like I do. It’s a great sport.”
Hursey – who broke into the world’s top 100 for the first time this year – has been handed a tough opening draw in the women’s singles.
She will meet Indian number one Manika Batra, who is 28th in the world, but takes confidence from beating a string of players ranked above her at a qualification event at Sarajevo in May.
“I feel like I am playing quite well at the moment,” said Hursey.
“I have improved a lot in the past two years or so, physically and emotionally.
“I took a lot of confidence from the results I had at the qualification tournament, and I can’t wait to get to Paris.”
