Shallon Olsen

Biography

At the 2018 FIG World Championships, Shallon Olsen captured silver in the vault for Canada’s best-ever result in the event. She matched teammate Ana Padurariu’s silver on beam for the country’s top world championship finish by a woman on an individual apparatus. She also contributed to Canada’s fourth-place finish in the team event. Earlier in the year, Olsen had won three medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, gold in team and vault as well as bronze on floor. 

Olsen was the youngest member of Team Canada when she made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 in her first year of senior eligibility. She achieved a career highlight by qualifying for the eight-woman vault final, a feat she repeated in her world championship debut in 2017 in Montreal. She qualified for her third straight vault final at the world championships in 2019 when she just missed the podium, finishing fourth. It was also at those worlds that she helped Canada qualify in the team event for Tokyo 2020. Earlier in 2019, Olsen helped Canada win team silver and earned an individual bronze in vault at the Pan Am Games in Lima. In her second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, Olsen again qualified for the vault final and finished seventh. 

Olsen will make her third Olympic appearance at Paris 2024 where she’ll be counted on once again to contribute a high vault score to the team total and hopefully qualify for her third  straight Olympic vault final. Olsen has been the Canadian Champion on vault every year since 2016 (no event held in 2020), earning the honour again at the 2024 Canadian Championships.

Named to the team for the 2022 World Championships, Olsen was forced to withdraw from the competition after the sudden death of her mother just two days before the event. 

Olsen competed in the NCAA with the University of Alabama from 2018 to 2023, helping them win the 2021 SEC Championship title.

A Little More About Shallon

Getting into the Sport: Started in gymnastics at age 3 and began competing at age 7 against girls two years older after she was fast-tracked due to her ability to execute high level skills at a young age… Even before she got started, she would do cartwheels and somersaults on the grass field when attending her older brother’s baseball games… Has wanted to compete on the world stage since watching the Nastia Liukin-Shawn Johnson showdown at Beijing 2008… Grew seven inches from age 13 to 15, forcing her to gain more strength and adjust her skills… Outside Interests: Enjoys reading, doing word searches, baking, biking, going to the movies… Completed a Masters degree in Sports Hospitality Management in August 2023 and has an undergraduate degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Sports Media from the University of Alabama… Odds and Ends: Nicknames: Shally, Doll Face… Admires the long lines of American Olympic champion Nastia Liukin and the elegance of Romania’s multi-world medallist Larisa Iordache, which she would like to emulate… Favourite motto: “Don’t tell people you dreams, show them”