Jonathan Nackstrand for OIS/IOC - Leah Hennel/COC

Lessons learned at Youth Olympic Games still strengthen Félix Dolci’s podium pursuits  

Félix Dolci had a viral moment during his Olympic debut at Paris 2024. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly the type of video of himself he hoped would be beamed around the world. 

Dolci was close to completing a clean horizontal bar routine during the men’s all-around final. His most difficult release moves were successfully done. Then one of his hand grips broke. He flew uncontrollably to the mat below. 

All hopes of a podium position were dashed. But as he prepared to get back on the bar, he remembered something he had told himself six years earlier while sitting on a bus in Buenos Aires:

“I cannot change anything about it now. This is behind me. But this performance doesn’t need to define who I am or what I can ultimately do as a gymnast and as an individual.”

In 2018, Dolci was a 16-year-old he now describes as an “inexperienced dreamer”, an “ambitious athlete who was passionate”. For the first time in his career, he was part of Team Canada, competing at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). 

It was a “catalyst moment” for what he wanted to achieve in sport.   

Dolci came home from those YOG with a silver medal won on rings during the apparatus finals. But he has always prided himself on being an all-arounder, capable of competing at a high level on all six men’s apparatus. So he was not satisfied at all with the set of performances that resulted in a ninth-place finish.

Alone on the bus that would take him back to the athletes’ village, he was left with a “bittersweet” feeling. He had competed at the biggest event to that point in his life, but hadn’t met his own expectations. From that experience came a “very, very important lesson” that he’s carried forward in his career. 

“I want to showcase what I can really do. So I think it really allowed me to pick up the pieces that were, I guess, me at that specific moment, to gather everything up and get ready for the next battle.” 

The Stepping Stone

Dolci had Olympic aspirations from a young age. So the chance to compete at Buenos Aires 2018 made him both “excited and nervous”. 

“It was the biggest step in the right direction because it was the Youth Olympic Games. Like I’m almost there. There’s just an extra word at the start,” he said with fond recollection. 

His “first shock to the reality of the Games” came upon arrival at the expansive athletes’ village with its airport-like security. He then found himself competing in front of thousands and thousands of spectators. 

“The first time I clocked in for the qualification round, seeing so many people watching gymnastics, I was like ‘that’s awesome’. I was like ‘this is fantastic’. And it kind of put some fire under me to give a good show and ultimately a good performance.”

Dolci had the audience behind him. He recalls cheers rivalling those given to the Argentinean gymnasts. Just trying to get to his parents in the stands was a struggle as fan after fan wanted a photo with him. 

It all helped make his YOG experience “from start to finish a dream, literally like a dream awakening, like a fairy tale.” 

It was also where he recognized his Olympic dreams were not delusional. 

“That was really a revelation to some extent, that I belong here and I can do this.” he said, adding that it brought a positive impact to all his training and competitions that followed.

It also made him more prepared for when it was his time to attend the biggest sporting event in the world and he became an Olympian at Paris 2024.  

“I know what it is like to be overwhelmed. I know what it’s like to compete under pressure. And I feel like I’ve earned this, to be at the Olympic Games, when I was 16. So now that I’m here, [at 22], it was not this big weight on my shoulders as in I have to prove to myself that I’m worthy,” Dolci reflected.

READ: Putting Canadian men’s artistic gymnastics back on the map

“I think a lot of participants that come to the Games for the first time have this kind of imposter syndrome. You chase this whole thing your whole life and you eventually get to it. Is that really me? Because it’s such a big dream that you’re like, do I really belong here? So having that realization when I was at YOG was definitely a game changer.” 

Lessons in Action

As children, everyone learns that there are good days and there are bad days. That’s just how life works. 

It’s also the reality gymnasts experience in training, despite their desire for perfection. 

“You will show up and you will fail most of the time,” Dolci said of the daily grind.  

“But when you live this experience very clearly at the Olympic Games in front of 30,000 people and ultimately the whole world, it’s a different scenario.”

As he laid on the mat below the horizontal bar at Paris 2024, one of Dolci’s first thoughts about his fall from one of his best apparatus was how it would affect his all-around ranking. His next thought was that he needed to finish what he had started. 

“In that moment I understood that it’s bigger than the performance. It’s bigger than a medal or a score or a title. It’s taking action. It’s showing who you are. And so in that moment, for me, pushing beyond my boundaries, beyond pain, beyond blood, beyond everything that was happening in that moment to showcase hey I’m still standing. I’m going to keep pushing forward for my country, for my people back home that are cheering for me. That was the most important thing at that moment for me.” 

He revisited that lesson again this summer at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. 

Dolci went in as a top contender for the all-around gold medal. So when he came off the pommel horse twice and scored just 9.50 on that apparatus, it was “beyond thinkable”. There were still four apparatus to go, but he was all the way down in 17th place. 

“In that moment, what can you do? The only thing left for me is to react and act accordingly,” he said. 

“I think falling at Paris and falling at the Commonwealth Games, it’s like, okay, it’s not over. What’s next? What do you got? What’s left in the tank? Show me what you’re worth because I think it’s in those exact moments that we can really see the value of an athlete or an individual, when they face challenges. I think this is when people are like let’s see if you crack or let’s see if you can try to wiggle your way around.” 

Dolci did, in fact, wiggle out of his predicament, earning first place scores on his remaining apparatus to climb his way up to the silver medal. 

It was one of six medals he won in Glasgow. But even with that haul, which included four gold, he still wants more. 

READ: Félix Dolci leads Canadian domination of artistic gymnastics at 2026 Commonwealth Games

“I want to do bigger gymnastics, I want to do better gymnastics. Bigger skills, better execution. World championships are around the corner and the Olympic Games are coming very, very, very, very fast,” he said. “I want to be at the top. I want to be out there so that people that have made it big in the sport know that I can be a threat in the sense of the competitions and the scores.” 

Future Goals

The next opportunity for Dolci to compare himself against the best of the best will be at the 2026 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which run October 17-25 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 

He has objectives in mind for both himself in the individual events and the men’s team that will also include Olympians René Cournoyer, William Émard, and Sam Zakutney, alongside newcomer Jordan Carroll. 

For the team, maintaining Canada’s top eight ranking from Paris 2024 would be great. 

READ: One big goal at Paris 2024 for Canada’s first Olympic men’s gymnastics team in 16 years

“But better than that, I want us to strive for top five. Is it ambitious? Absolutely. Is it possible? Definitely. Definitely.”

As for himself? 

“I need a top three at least at worlds. If it’s not world champion yet, okay, we’ll accept that, no problem. But I want to go in a final and get myself a podium as soon as possible. Because for me, that’s the biggest indicator that it is possible. It’s like my ‘I can’ moment from YOG, but this time for LA 2028. If I can medal at worlds, it’s like maybe I’ve got a shot, like I’m in the game.”

A week after the world championships, he’ll be cheering from afar as the next generation of Team Canada athletes compete at the 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. 

To them, he sends this message: 

“Get ready, because this is the beginning of a very, very beautiful chapter. And enjoy it. It was definitely a highlight of my life to this day.”