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Shewfelt is interviewed by
Olympic rower Marnie McBean
Photo by Grace Chiu |
This summer in Athens, Kyle Shewfelt got to live every athlete's dream. Not only did he win his country's first-ever gold medal in artistic gymnastics, but he became Canada's first Olympic champion of the entire Games. Since then, the 22 year-old Calgary native's life has taken a dramatic turn. From phone calls from the Prime Minister, to appearances on TSN's Off the Record and Much Music's On Demand, to dinner with Lance Armstrong, Shewfelt has found himself thrust into the spotlight, and he seems to be enjoying every minute of it.
On October 30, Shewfelt made an appearance at Olympic Spirit Toronto, the world's first permanent entertainment complex themed around the Olympic Games, where he spoke to fans and media about his life, both before and after Athens. Animated and candid, Shewfelt discussed topics ranging from his start in the sport ("My mother said I was going to break my neck [from doing flips around the house], so she enrolled me in gym. I don't remember choosing gymnastics, but I remember falling in love with it."), to his future in the sport (he intends to train for the 2005 world championships in Melbourne, Australia, where he hopes to add the title of world champion to his collection. From there, he will take it year by year).
Shewfelt also went through the details of his mental and physical preparation on the day of the men's floor final in Athens. "The night before, I was trying to sleep, but I was going through my routine in my head. I wasn't too nervous, but I was trying to make it perfect. The next morning, when I got up, I went into the bathroom, and I'm sort-of scratching my head, and I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought 'I look like an Olympic champion today.'" After a morning training session, Shewfelt tried to take a nap, but found himself visualizing his routine once more. "I think I went through it about 5000 more times," he laughed. Once at the competition venue, Shewfelt said he was full of energy, and had to be told to calm down by his coach, Kelly Manjak.
Finally, as he stood in the corner before beginning his routine, Shewfelt mumbled the words, "make it happen". The critical point in the routine, for him, came immediately, when he stuck his first tumbling pass. "I was so excited at that point. My biggest fear was not sticking my first pass." In the midst of his second pass, "I heard someone in the crowd shout 'I love you, Kyle!', and I'm like 'Uh, I love you, too...'". Beyond this point, his focus shifted to sticking his double-twisting double back dismount. "I tried to run a little slower into it [so that he wouldn't overrotate.]" Shewfelt stuck the dismount, let out a yell, and descended from the podium into the arms of his coach and friend, Manjak.
After the session, Shewfelt sat down with Gymn.ca for a private interview. Seemingly unaffected by his success, the captain of Canada's 2004 Olympic men's gymnastics team was relaxed and accommodating, and spoke openly about his philosophies surrounding the sport (he is a big fan of the artistic style of Soviet men's gymnastics teams from the 1980's and early '90's), and says he is completely comfortable with being a role model to young gymnasts. "Success breeds success," said Shewfelt, "I wanted to set the standard, make history, and create new limits."
Gymn.ca: Many Canadian gymnastics fans remember you from the days of competing locally in front of 300 people, representing gymnastics in Calgary. Then you’re at the Olympics, you’re winning a medal, and now you’re visible to the whole country. It’s not just about representing Canadian gymnastics anymore for you, it’s about representing Canada. How have you made that adjustment?
Kyle Shewfelt: I never thought that I would be in that position. Now I’m an ambassador for sport in Canada, and it puts you in a great position. I mean, I think sport is so important. Of course, I encourage everyone to get involved in gymnastics, because gymnastics is the best (laughs). It really is – it’s the most fundamental sport. It requires everything. You can transition from gymnastics into any sport, and that’s what I try to push.
I mean, I’m supporting the Centre of Excellence in Calgary because I feel sport is important. It has enriched my life so much, so I feel that everyone deserves the opportunity to be able to do it, and do it at the highest level – and win an Olympic medal.
Gymn.ca: Do you think you were prepared for this kind of a media crush?
KS: I think it’s impossible to prepare yourself. It just happens, and I don’t know, it depends on the type of person you are. I love meeting people, I like TV, I like doing interviews, I like all of that. But for someone who isn’t into that, I think they would be very, very overwhelmed. There’s been times in the past two months where I’ve just been so overwhelmed – I have a list of 500 things to do, people to call back, my phone keeps ringing, and it just keeps piling up and piling up, but working with [sport marketing and management agency] IMG, they’ve really helped me prioritize, and I’m finally starting to figure it out. Before, I was just a gymnast, now I have an agent, I have an accountant, I have a lawyer, my life has changed!
Gymn.ca: You said that you haven't had time to do much gymnastics since Athens. Have you done anything physical – say, a push-up (laughs) – since the Olympics?
KS: Actually, yeah I do push-ups a couple of times a week, and I’m just like “oh god, I’m getting out of shape!”. But, I’ve trained a couple of days, you know, I did some tramp, some basic tumbling, and this and that, but it’s just been so hectic and so crazy…and I feel guilty, because I’m a gymnast, like, I love being in the gym, but I need to take advantage of this opportunity, and gymnastics has been the highest priority - like it overtook everything for 16 years of my life. Now it’s time to – gymnastics is still a priority – but it’s got to be a little bit lower than this [PR] stuff right now.
I’m going to start getting back into training. It’s going to be hard – you know, without Kelly [who has moved to Mississauga], and with a new situation, but I’m going to start things off with Kel – I’m going to come and get back into shape with him, and then go from there.
Gymn.ca: Do you know where you’re going to train? Are you going to have to find a new coach to stay in Calgary?
KS: Well, you know, for me the best option is at my club, Altadore. Altadore Gymnastics Club, with Kelly Manjak. However, that’s not an option. So I had to weigh them out, and Kelly and I worked together so well for so long, and now it’s almost… [pauses] Like, my life is in Calgary – my friends, and my family, and my girlfriend, and I’m building a house. My life is in Calgary. So I’m going to stay there for right now.
Before the Olympics is such an important time, but now I have a couple of years where it’s not so, so important. If I’m shooting for Beijing, then 2006, 2007, 2008 are more important. Right now I need to stay home, keep in shape, learn some new skills, you know, keep competing, but if the situation doesn’t work out, then I know that I can always go and live with Kelly and train with him. And he’s told me that, so…
Gymn.ca: You do things with style and clean form. Now, at the Olympics, you did two 9.9 start value vaults. There are guys out there who are crushing these Tsuk double pikes, and they’re landing them on their face, or they're sticking them, or whatever. Was it a deliberate strategy to go a little easier, but cleaner, or was there a temptation to go say “I’m going to go for a 10 start value vault”?
KS: Well, you know, I really like my life, and I didn’t want to lose it! (laughs) These double flipping vaults I think are absolutely insane and crazy and stupid! There have been broken necks – I don’t want to break my neck! I don’t think I could consistently compete a Yurchenko double pike. [In training] I can do a Yurchenko double pike, I can do a Yurchenko full-in, but why would I do that in international competition, when I could potentially kill myself? It’s not worth it.
Gymn.ca: Did you see [Russia's Alexei] Bondarenko do his vault [in the men’s vault final]? (Ed: Bondarenko crashed his first vault badly, but vaulted a second time, resulting in a similarly frightening fall. He was carried off the floor on a stretcher.)
KS: I was in the back [warm-up] gym, and everyone was watching it on TV, and they’re just going “Woah, man!”, and I’m like “oh geez”. So I walk out there, and I’m walking, and there’s Bondarenko laying on a stretcher, and I had to sort-of step over him, and I’m like “is he okay?”, you know? Um, it’s just, I think it’s getting out of control, and for me, I’m someone who likes clean form. I like artistry, I like consistency. I would rather compete two 9.9 start value vaults than try to chuck something and kill myself.
Gymn.ca: What about a triple-twisting Yurchenko?
KS: Well, I was training a triple-twisting Yurchenko, and it was getting good, and then I got the foot injury and I couldn’t vault for two months. And then I started vaulting, and I would do a Yurchenko layout, and each time I would hit the springboard it was like “wow!” [wincing with pain], so it just wasn’t there…I really wanted to do it. I actually have a new idea, sort-of. It’s a Yuchenko double back, but with a half twist.
Gymn.ca: So a forward landing?
KS: Forward landing.
Gymn.ca: That’s crazy.
KS: It’s crazy. I like the forward landings, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to a landing towards the vault again with my foot, because it’s still – I don’t think the bruise will ever fully heal, and I don’t want to crunch it that way. I’d rather land back.
Gymn.ca: Some people felt that Bondarenko’s fall was partially the result of having no one-touch warm-ups in finals – the fact that he just had to go in cold. Do you think that was a factor? How do you handle competing without a warm-up?
KS: You do things that you are comfortable with – that are consistent. That way you can deal with no warm-up. It’s kind of sad that TV has, you know, overtaken gymnastics. I personally really feel that one-touch warm-up is great, and it’s great for the audience, too, because you get to see who you think could win, and then you watch for that.
When the athletes just go [without warm-up], people don’t know what they’re capable of doing, and then they do it, and it’s like “oh, okay”, but I think it would be more exciting if we still had the one-touch – and safer.
But for Bondarenko, on that day, I guess his head just wasn’t there. If that was me, and I had just done that first vault like that, I would have probably just done, like a front handspring over the vault for a second one, because it was, you know…
Gymn.ca: It was pretty scary. Let’s shift gears and talk a little bit about your team. You’re in a bit of an interesting situation, because I think that, truthfully, a lot of people in the public who don’t know the sport don’t realize that you were on a team…
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Clean form has always been
one of Shewfelt's trademarks
Photo by Grace Chiu |
KS: (nodding)…and I tried to bring the team in, because the team was important. At the Olympics, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I was without the team behind me – those four scores behind me. And the team, those guys, they’re like my good friends, they’re like my brothers. We spend so much time together.
Gymn.ca: How did they handle all of this? There was a possibility that some of them could have made finals too, or the all-around – it just didn’t work out that way. How did the week progress for you and them?
KS: After the team competition, we were a little bit disappointed because we didn’t come top eight and that was our goal. But we had a pretty good meet, and we came together, and it was good. It was a very long, stressful summer. Even qualifying as an individual – as in, making the team – that was really stressful. So when we were done, you know, a lot of the guys were a little disappointed, but it’s the Olympics, and it’s such a great experience, and they totally took advantage of that, and went to all the events and tried to do all of that.
But, I don’t know, I was there, and I had this goal of competing in the finals and winning a medal. I didn’t want to just compete this time around. [The 2000 Olympics] you know, it was just great to be there. This time, I wanted to win, and I had in my [training] plan the week of training in between the team competition and [finals]. And some of the guys came to training with me, and that was great. Like, Adam Wong came to every training with me – really supportive – but the other guys were doing their thing, and I didn’t blame them, you know? [I was] like, ‘Have fun! It’s the Olympics, don’t sacrifice your fun on my behalf!’ I mean, I’m okay [with training on my own], I train by myself at my club every day. Me and Kelly go and unlock the door and we go in and train.
I think all of them are extremely happy, and I think they realize that with a gold medal in gymnastics, gymnastics is going to get a lot more [popular], and it’s going to benefit everyone, not just me.
Gymn.ca: Gymnastics as sport is not a huge sport in Canada to begin with. Men’s gymnastics is even smaller. Have you grasped what you may have done with this sport in Canada? Have you gotten any feedback yet in terms of “hey, there are more kids at our gym now’, or what are you hearing?
KS: I heard that at my gym, Altadore, the registration doubled within a week after I won. And all across the country, almost every program is full. Kids want to do gymnastics now. I think it takes like a star or a hero to get the kids involved in the sport, so it just….it’s very overwhelming for me. I still can’t fully understand that, but it puts me in a great position to be a role model, and show the kids that gymnastics is fun. And I think that every little boy should be involved in gym, because if you want to be a good hockey player, a good baseball player, or soccer player, gymnastics is going to help you any way, and the more kids you get involved, the more that are going to fall in love with it, because, you know, it’s kind of impossible not to fall in love with gym once you’ve done it.
Gymn.ca: Men’s gymnastics, for probably the first time ever, had more controversy than women’s, and everything else in the Olympics combined…
KS:…I think that’s what made it pretty popular…
Gymn.ca: Do you feel [the controversies, and the attention that stemmed from them] somehow it even boosted your popularity somehow, or did it take something away?
KS: I don’t know, because I really haven’t focused on the vaulting controversy, even in most of my talks, I don’t even talk about it. That’s not what my Olympics was about. My Olympics was about winning a gold medal, my Olympics was about doing the best routine of my life in the Olympic final, and making two finals, making history for Canada. I mean, the controversy…some people still come to me, and they say “you got screwed”, and I say “yeah, yeah, I got screwed” (laughs), but I don’t care about the medal. I care about the credibility of the sport.
Gymn.ca: But not only with your controversy, but also with Paul Hamm, the high bar final, the rings final…
KS: I think it kind-of made some people think…I heard a lot of people compare gymnastics to figure skating, and I’m like no, no, no, no, no, no! It’s not like figure skating! Gymnastics is a sport that’s fair, but there were just too many problems at these Olympic Games. I think a lot of games are played at the Olympics, not only in gymnastics, but also in other sports too. So, I think it drew a lot of people’s attention to the sport, and I know a lot of people were really mad when I didn’t win get the bronze, and people were, like screaming at their TV’s…
Gymn.ca: Have you heard that the president of the FIG says they are going to scrap the current judging system and maybe re-vamp it?
Yeah, I heard about that, that they’re not going to change the code of points for at least a year, and I was kind-of happy. I’m like, “okay, good, I can sort-of keep my same routines for a year and still be okay!” (laughs). Because this is a transition year, and it would be so hard to transition to a new code of points, a new coach, a new club, a new life. I think it’s a move in the right direction. I think that they definitely did a good thing there, they need to evaluate it, they need to say where changes can be, and I have faith that they can come up with a great system, and that it’ll be as fair as it can be.
Gymn.ca: You’ve been doing the same floor routine, I think, for four years, basically the same skills. Is it hard to motivate yourself when you’re doing the same routine, or did you ever think ‘I’d like to try something new’ – I don’t know if you saw the routine of the North Korean gymnast who did a triple-twisting double back on floor – have you ever thought of pushing the envelope like that?
KS: I always wanted to. I can do a triple-twisting double back on floor. I can do a double-double layout. I can do all that, but for me, I was always focused on consistency and something that I was comfortable with, and I think for me, one of the main reasons that I earned an international reputation is because I pay attention to the small details, I’m trying to show artistry and uniqueness, and I think a lot of that would be lost if I was doing the big crazy skills. So, I think doing four elements in the first line is good – it’s different. The second line, nobody else is doing a 2 ½ twist to front layout, front 1 ¾ roll-out, and no one is pointing their toes when they roll out. I’m paying attention to all the little things. You know, on the sidelines, the jump full-turn back, the full turn to prone. My routine is different.
Gymn.ca: Final question. You say you love the sport, you’re obsessed with the sport, but when it finally does come to an end, have you considered coaching, or Cirque, or performing, or some other outlet?
KS: I sort-of have my plan, but you know, you can never really have a plan, because it never works out [exactly how you imagine it], but when I’m done gymnastics, I’d really like to do Cirque for a couple of years, make some money, perform, have some fun – it’s a good transition from gymnastics. I mean, you still have the same schedule. And then after that, I really want to get into broadcasting – sports broadcasting – and public speaking, and maybe one day I can work at Olympic Spirit! (laughs)
Gymn.ca: Thanks, Kyle. Best of luck in the future.
KS: Thank you!
To read Kyle Shewfelt's 2002 interview with Gymn.ca, click
here.
