For years, gymnastics was the focus of Cambridge resident Madeline Gardiner, and now in 2022, she has been selected as a recipient for the 2021 class of inductees for the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame.
"It's pretty exciting," said Gardiner about the nomination. “I think that gymnastics made me who I am, and I think that’s the foundation of my work and my school and my life right now."
Gardiner said she started gymnastics at the age of three through the Kindergym program. For about 20 years, she has competed across Canada, internationally and within the United States as part of the collegiate team at Oregon State University. In 2017, Gardiner retired from the sport.
“It was something that I grew up doing, and I loved people that I did gym with, and I loved the atmosphere, I loved the challenge of gymnastics,” said Gardiner, now 26-years-old. “There was never a ‘Oh yes, this is it!’ for me. It was just an on-going thing.”
Gardiner is an artistic gymnast. The Gymnastics Canada website said artistic gymnastics is the most popular out of the seven gymnastic disciplines in women’s gymnastics. The competition program of women’s artistic gymnastics includes the vaulting table, the uneven bars, the beam, and the floor.
“I liked the power associated with artistic gymnastics, I liked the tumbling, and as much as vault was not my strong suit, I loved flying through the air,” Gardiner said about her sport. “I loved the beam and I wasn’t willing to give that up, and frankly, I was quite scared of the trampoline.”
Through her sport, Gardiner has been to many different countries for competitions, including China, Russia, Australia, Singapore and London where she was an alternate for the 2012 Canadian Olympic team.
If she has time to travel after a competition, Gardiner said it is cool to see all the different cultures of the places she goes.
“For Singapore, actually my mother, my dad, both my brothers and my grandma came, that was fun,” said Gardiner. “Same thing with the London Olympics, it’s just a cool thing to look back at.”
With that many years of being a competitive gymnast, Gardiner is no stranger to injuries. In 2008, she had a significant back injury which caused her to temporarily stop from competing. After lots of physio and treatment, Gardiner said she competed in the Canadian National Championship in 2011, where she came in first place.
“To me, every meet was its own event, so I tried really hard not to bring previous competition results or experiences into each championship and I remember that championship was just a lot of fun. I loved the girls that I was with, all of my family was there, I try to make it the least amount of pressure on myself,” said Gardiner.
Her experiences as a gymnast have also translated into her current career as a nurse at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. When it comes to nursing, Gardiner said every day is different and a lot of things can get thrown at you.
I think that gymnastics really prepared me well for that,” Gardiner said about the mentality she developed from gymnastics, "that 'one shift, one hour, one patient, one event at a time' mindset has been really helpful and just the ability to take a step back and be like, ‘Okay, take a breather, we’re moving onto the next thing now.'"
Looking back on her career, she acknowledges it was made possible thanks to all the support she received from friends, family and teachers.
“When I was doing elite gymnastics, I would miss a month of school at a time, and all my friends, my teachers, my family, just everyone was so supportive, and I’m just super thankful for that.” said Gardiner. “As much as it is me in the gym 25 hours a week, it’s all the people that helped me get there, because it’s a process, it’s a long time. I did 20 years of gymnastics, so I’m just super thankful for all the people who were apart of that journey as well.”
