Curtis Hibbert: From Gymnast to Stunt Man

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Curtis Hibbert (CAN) flipped, bounced, vaulted and swung his way to acclaim as the best male artistic gymnast Canada has ever produced, at least until Kyle Shewfelt came along and won the country’s first Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics at the 2004 Games in Athens.

<< Curtis Hibbert won the silver madal on parallel bars at the world championships 1987 in Ronnerdam and a bronze medal on vault at the worlds 1992 in Paris....

“It takes awhile to establish yourself as a stunt man,” says the easy-going Hibbert, who retired from the national team in 1993 with six Canadian all-around titles, two world championship medals and countless other victories at major meets.
Hibbert says his gymnastics background has helped in performing many stunts although it did not necessarily make him more employable to movie producers.
“It’s almost like gymnastics where you’re competing and the judges have to get to know you.”
At 39, Curtis figures he’s just now hitting his stride in a tough business and would like to keep at it for another 10 years or so. “It’s a slow learning process,” he says. “You have to be lucky to get a big enough show that can allow you to do bigger and better gigs.”

He got started in gymnastics at seven, after his parents had tried without success, to get him interested in other sports, including soccer, basketball, baseball and swimming.
It wasn’t long before the gym became a second home. From a kid who did back flips off the back porch and tried walking home from school on his hands, Hibbert progressed rapidly to become one of the world’s top all around gymnasts.

Worlds in Rotterdam - highlight of his career!
In 1987 he became the first Canadian to win a medal at the world artistic gymnastics championships with a silver on the horizontal bar, a landmark achievement not matched until Alexander Jeltkov won silver more than a decade later in the same event at the 1999 worlds.

Soon after retiring, Hibbert opened a gym in Mississauga called 'KidsSuper Gym', which he sold three years ago. As much as he likes working with young gymnasts, his other pursuits limit his gym time to helping out former coach Masaki Naosaki at a club in Newmarket, Ont.
“I looked at coaching options but the commitment level is too great,” says Curtis, who works as a personal fitness trainer when he’s not crashing cars or falling off buildings on a movie set.

Looking back on his gymnastics career, he admits it took a little while to gain some perspective and get over the disappointment of never winning an Olympic medal.
“As an athlete you want to win an Olympic medal like everybody does, and that can warp your view of your own career if you let it,” says Curtis, who blazed a trail to three event finals at the 1988 Seoul, Olympics, but fell just shy of the podium, settling for a best-ever Canadian result of sixth on parallel bars.....

Until Shewfelt came long 16 years later, no other Canadian male artistic gymnast had ever qualified for a single event final at the Olympics, let alone won a medal.
“I was right on the cusp and that made it really tough. But ten years down the road you look at what you’ve achieved and you put it in proper perspective. Now when I look back, I’m amazed by what I did. I couldn’t have asked for a better career.”
Source: Canadian Gymnastics Federation