Kyle Shewfelt, born on May 6, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a gymnast. He was trained from the age of 6 at the Altadore Gymnastic Club and Kelly Manjak was his coach until the Athens Olympics in 2004. Passing out of Calgary National Sport School, Kyle Shewfelt nurtured his love for gymnastics from a very young age. Currently, he is trained by Coach Tony Smith from the University of Calgary.
Kyle Shewfelt made his international debut in gymnastics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games at Manchester, England. He won two gold medals for Floor and Vault exercises. Kyle Shewfelt had a major breakthrough in his career, when he took part in the 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held at Anaheim, California, the United States. He won bronze medals for his prolific performance on the Floor as well as in Vault category.
Kyle Shewfelt had an ankle injury in March 2004, but he recovered and took part in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He created history at the Athens Olympics and went on to proclaim the first Olympic medal for Canada in Artistic Gymnastics. Kyle Shewfelt was back in the spotlight at the 2006 Commonwealth games held in Australia, in which he collected bronze for Floor exercise and gold for Vault exercise. He steered the team to the 2nd place at the Pacific Alliance Competition held in Hawaii where he won the both Floor and Vault exercises.
Kyle Shewfelt was at the peak of his career in the 39th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held at Denmark, where he led his team to 6th position – best ranking ever for Canada in an international tournament. In his growing list of achievements was another bronze medal for Floor Exercises at this event.
After a few dormant years, he was selected to represent the Canadian Olympic team at Beijing. Although Kyle Shewfelt was unable to make it to the finals, he performed a new vault flawlessly on day one of the Olympic Games. His new move was ratified by the judges subsequently leading to a vault being named ‘Shewfelt Vault’.
Fondly called as ‘Spesh’, Kyle Shewfelt played himself in the Hungarian made semi-biographical sports movie ‘Fehér tenyér’. Tuned to music, he enjoys ‘The Amazing Race ‘on TV and is often heard coining the words ‘Dream BIG’.
