Youngest olympic competitor ever

Answer 1

There are reports of old rowing (crew) teams recruiting young kids to be their cox.

I think there is some rumor that the 1900 Dutch gold medal team had a 7 year old French boy as their cox on the boat.

There used to be 11 and 12 year old competitors occasionally, especially in diving and gymnastics and a 12 year old girl took a bronze medal in the 200m swimming event in 1936 as the youngest medalist ever (discounting the 7 year old French boy).

Of course, Olympians are restricted to 14 years old now so those records are unlikely to be broken.