To keep this within the context of a competition, there are a few stand-out cases of young competitors going places - among them a recent one that comes to mind is Ariel Khadr who won her pro card in Fitness a year or two ago at age 17. However keep in mind that there are only a handful of fitness competitors within the NPC these days. "Fitness" always seemed to me as a place for former HS / College gymnasts to take their skills, but once you get older, it just gets harder. Adela Garcia is a mega-repeat IFBB Ms Fitness Olympia winner - but again, there just aren't that many competitors to begin with.
Another young winner I recall was Listy Allen who won her pro card at the 2009 USAs (I remember cuz I was there) at age 21 and everyone was commenting about how incredibly young she looked and did she really deserve it?
So you see that the whole "young" thing is a bit controversial, particuarly in the categories OTHER than BB, because there is an already long-standing Teen cateogory to accommodate these competitors. There was a 13 yr old kid who competed in my same show in Atlanta in 2005. Definitely genetically-gifted - he is currently ranked among the top 2 or 3 HS / college athletes in wrestling & football. He stood out but no one raised a stink about his age. In the new women's categories, there has not been consideration of younger competitors - i.e. no teen category, why I don't know, I guess because they haven't really come up before. Generally we assume Physique competition requires some amount of muscle maturity, so generally don't consider it the realm of very young people. The other issue that has been on the sidelines of the women's categories, particularly Bikini, is the opportunity for overtly sexual presentation. I think I mentioned above that I basically walked out of the first local show I attended w/ the new Bikini category because of the near stripper show on stage and the cat calls from the audience. So yea, it already has pushed competitions towards the sex side, where traditionally BB shows have actually been distinctly NOT sexual and very family-audience oriented. The potential to slide down the slippery slope is there and I'd rather see a distinct line drawn now to keep the integrity of the "sport" vs let it continue based on whatever the hell happens.
So regardless of this particular competitor, I personally don't think Physique shows are where people under at least 16 should be, and my preference would be min 18. Otherwise create a Teen category. The precedents for so many of the things I don't like about the new categories have already been in place in the NPC for at least the last 30 yrs. Why do they not apply now? JMHO.
Exactly what I was thinking to.