Shewfelt: Cheers for a champion
Kyle Shewfelt is the kind of guy you really want to cheer for — not a pampered, over-priced, over-paid, pro sports superstar who figured everyone owed him reverence, if not a free ride, but a down-to-earth Olympic champion who really got it. Shewfelt was a Canadian gymnastics trail blazer, a high-performance athlete who handled such extremes as the joy of Olympic victory and a bone-shattering injury that required a year of rehab. Everything he accomplished, he accomplished with a smile, plus he was quick to thrust someone else — his teammates, his coaches, those he inspired — into the spotlight and make them the centre of attention.
Shewfelt had it all. Drive. Talent. Determination. Humanity.
He was the first Canadian gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal, but never lost sight of the fact that the journey to one's dream far outweighed arrival at the ultimate destination.
Olympic champion. How few people can say that?
Shewfelt will be remembered for winning gold in the floor exercise in the Athens Olympics in 2004, yet an even greater feat for him was just being able to compete last summer at Beijing, 11 months after shattering both tibias and damaging ligaments in his left knee just prior to the 2007 world championships. Shewfelt dreamt he could make it back from the devastating injury, which forced him into a wheelchair for a month following major surgery to insert plates and screws that knit the bones back together. He did — but it took months of painful rehab to regain the necessary flexibility, strength and suppleness to compete again. It was reminiscent of Shewfelt's dream, detailed in his May 21 blog at www.kyleshewfelt.com, prior to competing in his first Olympics as an 18-year-old in 2000.
Last summer, as a member of the Canadian men's team at the Beijing Olympics, Shewfelt narrowly missed qualifying for the team final and advancement to the individual apparatus finals in the floor exercise and vault. The look on his face the day after this disappointment and his demeanour told you that he had already accomplished his goal of having the opportunity to participate in the Olympics for a third time. His courage and determination to come back from a career-threatening injury was equally as valuable as the gold he earned in Athens.
Along the way, Shewfelt never lost perspective. He was the diligent trainer, the good teammate — the champion athlete who went to gym clubs and elementary schools and talked openly and enthusiastically and proved to be an inspiration for all he encountered.
When he won a pair of bronze medals at the worlds in 2004, it was evident Shewfelt was destined for special status. Not everyone makes it. Many fold under heavy expectations. Not Shewfelt. He progressed to the gold at Athens, where he should have won a bronze in the vault, denied only by questionable judging that bumped a Romanian gymnast ahead of him.
Shewfelt was showing peak form at the 2007 worlds when he over-rotated a landing and hyper-extended his legs — fracturing them both just below the kneecap. Instead of receding into seclusion, Shewfelt shared his feelings and his comeback progress with his blog and remarkable video that revealed each and every painful step of the rehab and training that would eventually return him to the Olympic arena in 2008.
Shewfelt acknowledged in his official retirement blog that he was overwhelmed by feelings of "nostalgia, excitement, sadness and anticipation." Still, the excitement and anticipation remain with his continued involvement in gymnastics. Shewfelt has agreed to be an ambassador for Gymnastics Canada, is opening his own recreational gymnastics club, developing a concept for a television show and, of course, will be joining CBC Sports as a colour commentator at the Canadian gymnastics championships in Hamilton.
So Kyle Shewfelt will be around and when you see him, give him a cheer. Few deserve it like him.