By TANIA PHILLIPS
FORMER Olympic gymnast turned motivational speaker Brennon Dowrick spent his Australia Day like he always does – having a barbecue with his friends and family and toasting the country he represented.
However this year’s Australia Day was a little bit more special for the Sunshine Beach resident.
Happily married to Kym, the two-time Olympian and father of four has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to gymnastics.
“I might have to drink a toast or two to that,” he said before his Australia Day celebrations.
But while he achieved so much, including helping to raise the profile of the sport in this country, Brennon believes it is as much for what he has done after his retirement as for what he did during his illustrious career.
He is now a keynote motivational speaker and presents to companies and associations around the world – just returning from the Phillipines late last week.
He is also the founder of Champion Edge, an Australia-wide motivation program with a focus on health and fitness for Australian teenagers.
“I just feel like the sport helped me the person I am today,” he says, explaining why he is so determined to help other young Australians achieve their dreams whether it be in gymnastics, or other sports or the arts.
He said he wasn’t anyone special or different – he just worked hard to achieve what he did.
And achieve he did.
Brennon was the first Australian to win a Commonwealth Games medal in gymnastics and is still very much involved in “giving back” to the sport that has given him so much over the years – being elected in 2013 to the Gymnastics Australia Board in 2013 and is Chair of the High Performance Committee.
He is one of Australia’s most successful gymnasts, representing his country at two Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games and seven World Championships.
Brennon not only won Australia’s first ever Gymnastics Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist in 1990, he then won a second gold in 1994 and was Australia’s first Olympic Games finalist at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
Inducted into the Gymnastics Australia Hall of Fame in 2012, he is also a member of the Athlete Roll of Honour and was awarded the Athlete Award of Distinction. Not bad for a young kid who took up gymnastics at the age of seven.
“I loved being outside and climbing trees,” he said of how his illustrious career began.
“My mum had a friend who saw me and suggested gymnastics. I fell in love with it straight away.”
“At the age of 13 I went to the Australian Institute of Sport and spend 18 years of my life there – longer than any other athlete from any other sport.”
He eventually did a degree in journalism but it was the public speaking side of things that drew him in. And now he travels the world and around Australia talking to people.
After living so long in Canberra, Brennon and Kym moved their family to Queensland five years ago – and say they love the relaxed, happy atmosphere.
It is also a good place to base himself as he spreads the word about a healthy active lifestyle to teenages through Champion Edge – in his own style (often including a display of his skills on the pommel horse.
“I let kids know that I am not anyone special – I just put my head down and worked hard,” Brennon said.
“We live in a great country and sport is a big part of our culture – I love teaching kids what I learned from sport.”
