MOTIVATED TO RETURN
Summerside’s double Olympic gold medalist Heather Moyse looking at leadership role in her return to bobsled
Heather Moyse looking to inspire next generation as she returns to the bobsleigh.
Another run down a bobsleigh track wasn’t even on Heather Moyse’s mind two months ago, but on Monday Summerside’s double Olympic gold medalist announced she is embarking on a comeback.
“I really, honestly and profoundly, never — there wasn’t even a thought in my brain that I would be returning to bobsledding,” Moyse said in a telephone interview from Calgary on Tuesday.
“The point of me being here, in my frame of reference, it’s not because I am determined to win another Olympic medal for myself or for Canada; it’s because I am motivated at the idea of helping someone else win their first one,” she said.
She said she was pulled back in following an email from bobsled pilot Alysia Rissling in early August.
“I admired the leadership component that she kind of touched on,” said Moyse.
“The idea of helping a rookie Olympian, a rookie driver to their first Olympics was hugely motivating to me.”
The 23rd Winter Olympics open in PyeongChang, South Korea, on Feb. 9, 2018.
Taking on a mentorship role, Moyse said, would align well with her own role as a motivational speaker.
Moyse said she is honouring speaking engagements she made prior to her decision to try out for the Olympic team, but has not taken on any new ones.
She consulted with family members and a few close mentors before making the decision: “People who kind of know what’s involved — the physical aspect, the drama that undoubtedly comes with every Olympic season, and the having to put my business on hold in order to come and do this.”
Also weighing in on her deliberations about trying out again, after being away from the sport for three and a half years was a lingering back issue she’s been dealing with since June.
“It wasn’t until bobsledding became even in the mix that I started being like, ‘OK, I need to get this fixed; I need to see whether it is possible or not.’”
She said a team therapist reassured her that the problem is likely an alignment issue rather than an injury and can be corrected.
Despite that, she knows getting back on track will require discipline on her part, especially when training with high performance athletes, to work back into condition gradually.
She was heading out onto the Canadian Olympic Park Wednesday, planning to get started with mobility/stability exercises.
“I’m going to be challenged physically to see if I can get back to where I want to be and where I can be in terms of helping someone physically in the sled, but also, it’s just that extra layer of mentorship, which was the appealing part, because that’s what I do now in my business,” she said.
“The pull of that challenge, to push that next generation, it was really powerful for me.”