WITH NOTHING TO PROVE, MOYSE BECOMES MENTOR
39-year-old from P.E.I. hopes to empower, not overpower, in rejoining bobsled’s elite
For years, Heather Moyse pushed.
She pushed past the expectations of others and her own limits to World Cup podiums, to a pair of Olympic gold medals — to the pinnacle, again and again.
There were possibilities to realize, people to empower. She became a sought-after motivational speaker and embraced the roles of mentor, ambassador and humanitarian. She’ll add published author to the resume, with her book Redefining Realistic, out in November.
More than three years removed from her last race in Sochi, there has been an equal, opposite and wholly unexpected reaction. The push has pulled her back.
The 39-year-old from Summerside, P.E.I., hasn’t sprinted since 2014 and has in fact rarely ventured inside a gym, dealing with a cranky back since June. Still, Moyse was lured to Calgary, to the national bobsled team.
“I’m excited. I love the challenge of seeing if I can physically do it again,” she said.
The surroundings will be familiar, but the job much different. She said she won’t be returning to her customary spot in Kaillie Humphries’ sled, despite an invitation last year to reunite with Humphries.
“I’m pretty sure she understands I’m just not motivated to do the same thing again,” Moyse said Saturday.
The comeback attempt was triggered instead by an early August email from second-year pilot Alysia Rissling, who wanted help navigating the mental and physical minefield of an Olympic season. The query provided an intriguing link between Moyse’s old passion for bobsled and her new commitment to empowering others.
“At first I was just like, ‘Well, I’m kind of done. I love what I do now.’ My business is all around empowering other people and helping other people achieve their goals. But when I started saying it out loud, I was like, coming back and helping (Rissling) or other development drivers or whomever on the team, that is empowering other people, that is coming back and investing in the next generation, and pushing future athletes.
“I’m not motivated to go back and just try and win another Olympic medal, but I am motivated by the idea of helping someone else win their first.”
The two met Saturday in Calgary for the first time, though their relationship has been building over the phone. The mentorship begins in earnest Tuesday, when Moyse embarks upon the delicate task of rejoining a national team full of athletes who have been grinding it out for a quadrennial.
“It’s not easy, but I need to focus on the positives and the fact that I am truly here to help,” Moyse said.
Canada is all but guaranteed two women’s sleds in Pyeong Chang, but the goal is three. The brakemen are largely neophytes, but Moyse can provide leadership.
“Right now, besides Kaillie who has to focus on her own competition, there are no other women who have been to an Olympic Games before,” Moyse said. “The whole Olympic season is just such a different season — the pressures, unfortunately the dramas. It’s just an intense season. Having someone who has kind of successfully managed that a number of times is something that (Rissling) and the coaches think is a valuable asset.”
Rissling, 28, has no doubt Moyse can help the team.
“For my role as a leader and pilot,” Rissling said, “that’s where I’m lacking — the experience. I am unable to anticipate what the level of pressure is going to feel like when we get to the Games. That’s where Heather can probably step in, be the assertive body and the calming factor and guide us through.”
That’s provided she earns a place in a sled, of course. Nothing is guaranteed, particularly with just five months to go from essentially zero training to an icy hill in South Korea.
“It’s a very daunting idea,” Moyse said.
A normal human might not even bother lacing up the shoes, but Moyse isn’t normal. They called her Freak, an endearing term indicative of uncanny
athletic ability. But her back has been out of alignment since June. What about that, she asked team therapists.
“They just said, ‘When you are in alignment, the explosiveness in your muscles is undeniable. And regardless of you not training, your muscle tissue is different than any other athlete I have ever come across,’ ” she said.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around that, and around how (the experts have) no doubt that I could come back and do this.”
About two weeks ago she stopped resisting and let the pull bring her all the way back. Now she’ll do what she did for all those years: Push.