TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - For Crimson Tide junior Shallon Olsen, her first two seasons at Alabama were a whirlwind.
A member of Canada's 2016 Olympic team who reached the individual finals on the vault in Rio, taking eighth place, she is the very rare gymnasts to mix a collegiate and international career, training in Tuscaloosa the last two years while competing for both Alabama in NCAA competition and Team Canada on the International Elite scene.
"It's been a challenge, to do both," Olsen said. "They're pretty different worlds. In college you're competing every week, where in Elite you compete once every couple of months. They're both different, but they're both fun and exciting in their own way."
Last season, after representing Canada at back-to-back World Championships as well as the 2019 Pan American Games, the Vancouver native was ramping up to take a shot at Tokyo and her second Olympic Games.
"I've had a lot of people ask me, 'Are you doing both? How do you manage that?'," Olsen said. "It's been kind of crazy. It's kind of a lot to juggle but my coaches at Alabama and here at home have been really supportive."
Her balancing act has paid big dividends for Olsen, who won individual medals on the vault at both the 2018 FIG World Championships (silver) and the 2019 Pan American Games (bronze) to go with All-Southeastern Conference and Scholastic All-America honors on the collegiate front.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and everything was thrown up in the air. The collegiate season came to an abrupt halt just before the championship season and Olsen returned home to Canada. Once at home, she finished her spring classes online and, like the rest of the world, played a game of wait-and-see.
The first piece to fall into to place was the postponement of the Olympics, moving from the summer of 2020 to 2021. After that announcement, Olsen did her best to keep fit, despite the fact that her home gym, along with every other training site in Canada was closed.
"For the first couple of months, I didn't have anywhere to train, so I did the best I could to stay in shape, doing home workouts, going for walks, whatever I could do," Olsen said. "Then gyms started to slowly open up."
Eventually, as things started to open back up, she began training again, building her skills back up and preparing, once again, for the Canadian Olympic Trials and hopefully, beyond that, a trip Tokyo and a shot at a medal.
With those goals in mind, Olsen is taking advantage of the opportunity to take online courses at Alabama this fall while continuing to train in North Vancouver.
"It's been different, but it's also been fun getting to know these coaches and the different girls," Olsen said. "I appreciate waking up and having something to do - going to practice and accomplishing something."
While she misses her Crimson Tide teammates, she's staying in touch, including taking part in team meetings via Zoom and has her return to Tuscaloosa already set.
"Yep, I've already got my plane ticket," Olsen said with a laugh. "December 26th, I'll be back in Tuscaloosa and I'm excited for that. I'm looking forward to the spring and getting to see and hang out with my teammates again and compete for Alabama."
For now, she's focused on sharpening her skills and getting her routines ready to go for both Olympic and NCAA competition, while also continuing to work toward her degree in communications studies, celebrating her third "First Day UA" virtually in Canada.
"Alabama has been really supportive of everything I've set my mind on to do," Olsen said. "The coaches, the staff at Bryant Hall (UA's Academic Center), really everybody, have helped me so much with everything. Training, classes and just becoming a better person overall, in the classroom and in the gymnastics world."
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Alabama Gymnast Shallon Olsen Is Preparing for Another Olympic Run, Again - rolltide.com
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