Saskatchewan gymnast Gagnon finds immortality in a name and a skill – Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Saskatchewan's Joel Gagnon, shown competing with the Minnesota Gophers, has had a gymnastics element named after him. Courtesy Minnesota Athletics/Christopher Mitchell/SportShotPhoto.com

Saskatchewans Joel Gagnon, unlike the rest of us, has his own move.

Its documented, codified, immortalized. People all over the world are trying it; theyre sending him video links via Instagram.

Try it sometime: Head to the closest parallel bars, and perform, as the International Gymnastics Federation puts it, a basket roll backwards with tuck salto half to upper arm hang.

Youve just performed The Gagnon named by the federation after its inventor, a kid from Saskatchewan, and placed into the mens gymnastics Code of Points.

Someone came up to me this weekend, relates Gagnon, a third-year gymnast with the University of Minnesota Gophers who is freshly returned from the Big 10 championship.(He was) one of the photographers, and he said, Ive been shooting that skill all season. I didnt realize it was named after you. Its one of those little comments that make you happy. You know its kind of a big deal.

Gagnon, who grew up in Regina before moving to Saskatoon to train with the Taiso Gymnastics Club in Grades 11 and 12, is the first Saskatchewan gymnast to have a skill named after him.

He invented it late last summer, while working on a different skill at a gym in Montreal. He was having difficulties, and made his own variation an extra half twist, instead of an extra flip, and that moved it off the books and into uncharted territory.

I was lucky enough to be scheduled to go to my first World Cup in Hungary a month and a half after that, he says. It was pretty good timing, if I could master the skill quickly. I knew there was a chance of getting it named after me. It all happened pretty fast. Before I knew it, I was competing in Hungary, and now its named after me.

Before Gagnon could perform the unknown move in competition, it had to be submitted to meet officials. They gave it a difficulty value of C, which carries a points score of 0.3.

Later, it went to a technical committee at the International Gymnastics Federation. Last week, they announced that The Gagnon is one of eight new elements, all performed at World Cup events in 2016 and 2017, to be published in the mens Code of Points.

It is a way, the Federation noted in its preamble, of achieving immortality in gymnastics. The gymnast who has an original skill named after them in the Code of Points assures that his or her name will live on in the sport, years after they have taken their final bows on the international stage.

Its incredible, says Gagnon, an aspiring Olympian and aerospace engineer who is also on Canadas national gymnastics team.

Its almost surreal to have my named attached to something that will be in the Code of Points forever. I can say I left a legacy, or my mark, on the sport in some way. Its something you dream about, but its not something you think will ever happen, because you have to have the stars align in the right way you come up with a skill, and are able to compete it at the high level required to get it named after you.

Gagnon is now working to refine the element. Since introducing it, hes done the move with legs tucked, but hes now trying it with legs splayed. Hes been using it just about every weekend at NCAA competitions.

He laughs when asked to evaluate that first public display of The Gagnon, at the Szombathely World Challenge Cup in Hungary.

It was the best anyones ever done it, he said wryly. It wasnt perfect. It was clean, well-executed. I could have had a bit more rotation on it, so theres still improvement, which is good.

Gagnon, who first started in the sport as a four-year-old in Regina, remains a Taiso member while working towards his goal of competing at the 2020 Olympics and, maybe, of using his element there.

Hes juggling all that, and his aerospace engineering studies, while noting that they do have at least one thing in common.

Both of them are very challenging, Gagnon said. Anytime youre learning something new in the gym, theres a lot of analysis going on what can I do to fix this; what can I do to catch this release move or stick this landing? It takes a lot of patience, a lot of time, a lot of thought, a lot of dedication, a time commitment. Both (gymnastics and engineering) have those same trends.

With all that said, he continues to work on a variation of The Gagnon. Perhaps, he muses, he can try another new element in international competition, and theyll immortalize The Gagnon 2.

Ill still try to innovate, to be creative and maybe get another skill one day, he says.

kemitchell@postmedia.com

twitter.com/kmitchsp

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Saskatchewan gymnast Gagnon finds immortality in a name and a skill - Saskatoon StarPhoenix