Olympic trampolinist Dylan ‘I'VE FINALLY GOT MY BOUNCE BACK'

The Southland gymnast owes his sporting success to his biggest fan – his mum

- Elisabeth Easther

When Dylan Schmidt was a boy, he had a dream – to be the first athlete to represent Aotearoa in trampolining at the Olympic Games. And in 2016, aged just 19, that fantasy came true, so now Dylan’s dream has been upgraded.

On Saturday, July 31, the 24-year-old will be aiming for a gold medal as he competes in Tokyo, Japan, the high point of a gymnastic journey that began when he was an active wee boy in kindergarten in Te Anau.

Smiling, his mum Jen remembers, “Dylan’s teacher told me how all the other kids tried to do what he was doing in the playground, but they just couldn’t keep up. She reckoned he’d be an Olympian one day.

When he made Rio in 2016, we had a bit of a laugh over Facebook!”

Dylan’s energy was channelled into trampolining when a coach came to their small Southland town in 2001, with his big brother Callum and sister Rachel also signing up. When the coach left Te Anau, Jen travelled to Christchurch to learn how to coach herself.

“It was difficult, but we did what we could to keep the club going,” she tells.

Then came another spanner in the works. Dylan’s dad Andy was offered a job in Waihi and the family found themselves in a town with no trampoline club. But with all three kids showing real promise in the sport, Jen dedicated herself to ferrying them to and from Auckland to train, sometimes four times a week.