Competing in the Olympics, whether medals have been won or not, is life changing.
Shane Wiskus of Spring Park and the University of Minnesota found that out three years ago, as part of a U.S. men’s gymnastics team that finished fifth in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games.
Here’s the thing younger Olympic athletes like Wiskus discover, often to their detriment: Once someone gets to the Olympics, they want to go back. And if they’re not careful, the path back consumes them, to the point they might forget why they took up the sport in the first place.
Three years of back and shoulders injuries since Tokyo limited Wiskus’s ability to train and compete, testing his confidence and love for gymnastics. He rediscovered some of that love last year after moving to Sarasota, Fla. to train at EVO Gymnastics with three other Olympic hopefuls, including three-time national champion and fellow 2021 Olympian Brody Malone. Wiskus arrived in Minneapolis this week for the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team Trials as healthy as he’s been in a while, with newfound vigor for the sport he first embraced as a preteen.
That’s why Wiskus, now 25, uncharacteristically milked the Target Center crowd for all its love and attention Thursday night, on Day One of the two-day men’s competition. By the end of the night, Wiskus delivered the kind of performance that could land him back on the five-man Olympic team, provided he repeats it all Saturday.
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“Regardless of what happens on Day Two, that was one of the most fun competitions I’ve ever been in,” Wiskus said after finishing third in the all-around with 84.300 points. “The second I stepped out on that field and heard the Minnesota love and the fans screaming for me, it was an incredible experience and a memory I’ll have forever.”
Fred Richard of the University of Michigan, runner-up at the U.S. Championships earlier this month, leads the all-around with 85.600 points. Malone, 15 months after a horrific right knee injury that required three surgeries, sits second (85.100). Four others are within a point of Wiskus, who placed in the top five on five of six apparatuses.
“One of his best meets,” said his former Gophers coach, Mike Burns, watching from the stands. “Talk about picking the right time to put together a great six-for-six performance. Ride that wave into Saturday.”
Only the all-around winner is guaranteed an Olympic berth, and only if he finishes top three on three individual apparatuses. The other four spots, along with five alternates, will be determined by a selection committee based on performances at trials and the U.S. Championships. The men’s Olympic team will be announced Saturday night and the women’s team Sunday night. (The women’s competition, with Simone Biles and St. Paul’s Suni Lee headlining, begins today.)
Even if it doesn’t work out for Wiskus, he had lots of fun giving it his best shot. Wiskus generally doesn’t egg on the crowd. But after hearing louder cheers than any of the 20 competitors during introductions, Wiskus decided to embrace the affection.
In his third rotation, he let out a primal scream after dismounting he high bar. He followed up by waving his hands and cupping his ear like Caitlin Clark after a 14.350 on floor exercise, the third-best score of the night in that event. He finished with a stellar rings routine, sticking the dismount, then yelling and pumping his fist.
“I think I made it a home court advantage because I played into it and I allowed it to give me energy,” Wiskus said. “In other scenarios in the past, I feel like I let it get to me and let the pressure build on me. But I felt nothing but love tonight, and it gave me goose bumps for every event.”
Wiskus’s path to Tokyo three years ago wasn’t anywhere close to typical. He had just begun his senior year at the U in the fall of 2020 when the university decided to drop men’s gymnastics. Uncertain if he could keep training on campus, Wiskus packed up and relocated to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. He later returned to the U to compete at the NCAA Championships at Maturi Pavilion, winning two events and finishing second in the all-around behind Malone, of Stanford.
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Next came a disastrous finish at the U.S. Championship, Wiskus falling three times on the high bar, his last event. Then he bounced back to finish third in the all-around at the Olympic Trials, securing his Olympic berth by completing all 12 events cleanly over two days.
“The lead-up to the last Olympics, we had COVID that we were dealing with,” Wiskus said earlier this week. “I had to make the hard decision to leave my college program and train at the Olympic Training Center. That came with its own issue with quarantines. If someone got sick, we were all kept out of the gym. Whatever.
“This last year has been more like injury-based, and just making sure I can do my gymnastics to my capability. At the end of last season, I was really beat up. I took some time off and really just set myself up for this year. Now I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m so grateful to be here and not where I was six months to a year ago.”
Though Wiskus retained his spot on the national team last year by finishing eighth in the all-around at the U.S. Championships, he skipped the Pan Am Games to let his aching shoulder and back heal. So he entered this season on the outside, no longer a favorite or lock for his second Olympics. Wiskus helped his cause earlier this month by taking fifth in the all-around at Nationals.
“I really feel like my journey for the last three years has kind of been falling back in love with the sport,” Wiskus said. “It’s really easy, and it’s a slippery slope, to go to the Olympics and start raising expectations, because you come off of that high and want to chase the next one.
“I feel like the last 2 1/2 years, I was struggling with whatever, and my expectations were kind of my driving factor, as opposed to what used to be my passion for the sport. I was like chasing my dreams. I was almost forcing it. I was just trying too hard, not letting it happen.”
Thursday, Wiskus let it happen, with terrific results. “I just felt like I took control of this competition,” he said, “and I feel like I’ll be able to get back into that mode on Saturday.”
